


Spirit Of The Divine

by alexdamien



Series: The Age of Gods and Heroes [4]
Category: Saint Seiya, 聖闘士星矢: 冥王神話 | Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
Genre: Comedy, F/F, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:41:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 38,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24987709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexdamien/pseuds/alexdamien
Summary: Hades wasn't joking when he warned that the underworld would be destroyed along with him, and too late the saints realize that maybe winning the holy war wasn't such a good idea? Maybe? To hold down the world from falling apart, Athena places Hades' spirit into Shun's body, but that will come with it's fair share of complications...On Hiatus until further notice.
Relationships: Aquarius Camus/Scorpio Milo, Aries Mū/Virgo Shaka, Aries Shion & Libra Dohko, Cancer Deathmask/Pisces Aphrodite, Capricorn Shura/Sagittarius Aiolos, Griffon Minos/Pisces Albafica, Harpy Valentine/Wyvern Rhadamanthys, Phoenix Ikki/Andromeda Shun
Series: The Age of Gods and Heroes [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783195
Comments: 58
Kudos: 101





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the lovely Callie for her work betaing this fic and catching all of my terrible mistakes.

Hades was serious when he said that the underworld would disappear. It, in fact, started crashing right away. The souls of the dead, sinners and saints, released from their chains into the world.

“Is this supposed to happen?” asked Shiryu, as the ground under his feet started cracking open.

Saori set her hands over Seiya’s chest. She could feel the dark energy of the curse from Hades’ sword swirling within his chest. She used the light of Athena inside her to pull it together, closer to the wound, contained. 

“I’m not sure,” she said, and looked around at the souls crying in pain and release.

Seiya opened his eyes and blinked up at Saori.

“Is it over?” he asked, his voice a whisper. 

Hyoga and Shiryu pulled him up, carrying him on their shoulders.

“Well, Hades is dead and the eclipse is stopping, but I don’t think anything is over,” said Hyoga.

“I’m going to allow Athena to fully take over. I think she’ll know what to do,” said Saori.

“Wait what?” asked Seiya. “Athena to take over y-?!”

Saori placed her hands over her chest and seemed to faint. Shun held her up for a moment, before she opened her eyes again.

They were white.

“Saori?!” yelled Seiya, trying to approach her, but his legs wouldn’t support him and his friends had to hold him up.

Athena looked around

“Events are unaligned in this timeline,” she said, and there was a deep echo to her voice. “You weren’t supposed to succeed this time…”

She walked forth in unsure steps, as if she felt strange in her own body.

“What happened to Saori? What is this?” asked Seiya

Athena lifted an eyebrow at him. “She is but the reincarnation of a small part of my being. And her body cannot contain all of me for too long,” she said, then looked around at the ongoing destruction of the underworld. “I have to contain this now. Quickly, before this vessel is irreparably destroyed.”

She reached out and grabbed Shun’s arm.

“You will contain Hades’ soul,” she said

“Eh?!” was all Shun could say before Athena slammed her palm against his chest and his world turned black. He fainted and Ikki rushed to hold him up.

“Shun?! What did you do to him?!” he cried, looking at his brother’s face.

The tips of Atena’s hair were starting to turn white, and the edges of her dress that still fluttered under her cloth started to catch on fire, burning with white flames. 

Shun opened his eyes. They were completely black. He smirked.

“Athena you idiot” he said, Hades’ voice echoing over his own.

Athena sighed and slapped him. Shun’s eyes went back to normal and he looked up into Ikki’s face.

“Wha-What happened?” he asked.

Pieces of the ground started going up in dust all around them and from underneath them came an overwhelming darkness, heavy and cold, drifting up into the sky.

“Keeping Hades’ soul in him will stop the underworld from being completely destroyed, but I still need to anchor it somehow, or the souls of the dead will escape into the world of the living,” she said, lifting her staff above her head.

There was a sudden pressure all over them, and at the four corners around them the darkness seeping from under the broken ground pulled itself together into four different forms. 

“The stars of your judges should be enough,” said Athena, and slammed her staff down on the ground. The tips of her hair started catching on fire. White fire. 

The darkness faded, revealing the form of all three judges of the underworld and Pandora. Around them, the underworld stopped breaking apart, and there was a flattening of it. As if the whole space around them had become more solid and flat.

“You will have to make do, and hold the universe while I rebuild the underworld,” said Athena.

Pandora ran away, and vanished into the shadows with a scream of terror. Shun reacted one second too late to catch her, but his chains wrapped around the three judges.

“Leave me, I’m fine!” said Seiya. Shiryu and Hyoga let go of him and he immediately collapsed to the ground.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” said Aiakos, grabbing at the andromeda chains around him. “But I’m not following along!” 

He pulled on the chain, dragging Shun up against him and kneeing him in the stomach.

Shun and Hades cried out in pain. His hair and eyes turned black. He reached out to grab his head and with a roar of rage, he broke Aiako’s neck.

Shun’s hair turned back to green and he screamed in horror at what Hades had done with his body. Minos and Rhadamanthys stood frozen in place at having heard Hades’ voice coming from Shun’s mouth. 

“Emperor Hades?” asked Minos, giving a tentative step forward. 

The part of the underworld behind Aiakos started to fall apart again, crumbling into pieces. Earth and sky fracturing while the voices of the death roared again.

Athena groaned at the sight of what had happened.

“How…?” she started, then she growled, her face contorting in anger. She slammed Nike on the ground again and a shock of white thunder went through Aiakos’ body. He gave a groan of pain and started moving again. “You will have to make do, and hold the universe while I rebuild the underworld. Andromeda, hold them.”

Shun snapped back to attention and wrapped his chains around the judges again. But the tips of his hair started turning darker.

_ “This is what you get?”  _ spoke Hades through Shun, even as he focused all his strength on keeping the judges contained.  _ “A broken world and four saints? You tripped yourself on your own strategies, you fool” _

“On the contrary. I still have my vessel, and all of my stars,” said Athena, twirling Nike over her head. “With you gone, two thirds of the world are mine, and my powers grow.”

A spiral of white light swirled above, and the skies of the underworld parted, giving way to the starry heavens of the world of the living. 

Twelve constellations shone brighter than the others in a circle around the sky.

“And I have all the souls I want now,” whispered Athena.

The light from the constellations descended around them, forming into thirteen different forms.

Athena gasped, and leaned against Nike to not collapse. Shiryu rushed to help her, but she gave him a stern look that froze him on the spot.

“Don’t touch me! I’ll burn through you as I’m burning through my vessel!”  s he  stated with a warning in her voice  . “Aries, take us all out of here. Back into the living world. I need to retreat and allow my vessel to recover.”

Rhadamanthys roared, and tried to fight against Shun’s Andromeda chains. Ikki helped Shun to hold on, even as Aiakos also tried to fight them and escape. Shiryu joined Ikki in helping Shun hold them down.

Mu held his head, blinking around at the world around him. The other saints also looked around in confusion. Shion, next to his disciple, walked forward to stand next to Athena.

“Stand back, and let’s create a sphere to take everyone back up,” he ordered.

Mu shook his head, snapping back into attention. He moved a little further out from the circle made by the golden saints and extended his arms. Shion reached up with his own arms, and a sphere of light materialized around them.

“I’m afraid the distance is very great, and there is only so much we can-,” started Shion, feeling how far away from the world they were.

“We’ll make it out,” interrupted Athena. “Am I not your goddess?”

Shion nodded. He locked eyes with Mu, and they teleported away from the underworld.


	2. Chapter 2

They crashed in the middle of a street, leaving a huge crack on the pavement, all of them collapsing into the ground.

The street was empty as most people with the means to do so had run away trying to escape from the city from the terror brought about by the eclipse. A homeless child observed from the shadows of a nearby, and several floors above them, a young man unable to escape noticed them and started taking photos and videos.

“Aries, take this vessel to a place to heal,” said Athena, standing up. She looked pale and parts of her long hair had been burnt, along with the edges of her clothes. “I will need her still.”

Then she took a deep breath, and it seemed as if the glow around her died off, and she fainted, falling into the arms of Mu and Shion.

“Let’s take her to the sanctuary,” said Mu.

Shion frowned, and pulled her up in his arms. 

“No, there is not much left of the sanctuary,” he said, looking out into the setting sun, then he looked into the opposite direction, towards the east. “I’ll take her to her house. There are people there that will be able to take her to the doctor, but...It might be too much for us to take everyone there at once and I don’t want to risk it. Stay here. Don’t move. I’ll be back.”

He closed his eyes, and with a high pitched shrill sound, vanished with Saori in his arms.

“Wait! No!” called Seiya, trying to walk forward, but without Hyoga’s help, he still couldn’t keep himself up. “I want to go with her!” 

Mu went to inspect him. “Don’t worry. Shion will keep her safe. How are you feeling?”

“Safe?! Wasn’t he working with Hades?” asked Seiya.

“Errr, that’s a long story…,” said Deathmask, scratching at the back of his head and looking away.

A noise from far down the street drew the attention of some of them while the others started looking around at the city where they were.

“Errr, guys maybe we should move away,” said Hyoga, dragging Seiya a few steps aside.

“What is that thing coming towards us?” asked Saga, covering his eyes from the bright lights of the incoming car. “Is that a machine?” 

Saga moved to stop the car with his hand and ended up crumpling the whole front of the car along with the motor. Inside, the airbag saved the driver’s life.

“What is this machine?” asked Saga, rubbing at his eyes that stung from the bright lights. 

“I think…,” said Shun with a nervous smile on his face. “We could move away from the middle of the street.”

“Hey look, I think we can wait there,” said Hyoga, pointing to a small kfc restaurant on one side of the sidewalk.

Everybody else agreed and they went into the restaurant. Aldebaran carried Rhadamanthys and Aiakos under his left arm, and Minos over his right shoulder as if they weighed nothing at all.

“What is this place?” asked Camus, looking at the bright lights all around and the people sitting down at the small tables. 

“Errr, it’s a restaurant. A kind of restaurant,” said Hyoga. 

Deathmask sniffed the air. “Damn, it smells delicious, I’m starving. I haven’t had a good meal since I died,” he said, looking at the counter.

“Why is everybody staring at us?” asked Milo, looking at the way all the families were staring at them in awe.

“Maybe because we’re all wearing armor?” tried Shiryu with a small embarrassed smile. “Maybe we should all take off our cloths.”

They started taking off their cloths and putting them inside the pandora boxes that manifested next to them.

“Errr, I’m not sure I can take it off,” said Aioros, who was the only one still wearing it. “I’m not wearing anything under my cloth” 

Deathmask pointed to the red fabric between his hip plates and boots.

“You’re wearing those pants,” he said. 

Aioros pulled up the fabric from within the thigh high boots of his cloth. 

“This is actually underwear. But I guess it’s less eye catching than the cloth,” he said, and took it off.

He was, indeed, wearing nothing other than red boxers. 

A collective gasp went up through the restaurant.

“Why aren’t you wearing…more?” asked Aphrodite. “We’re all wearing the clothes we died with.”

“Well, I wasn’t wearing much when I died. There wasn’t even much left of my pants after the fight, if I remember well,” said Aioros. “And then Hades just kept me like that in Cocytus.”

The saints collectively turned to stare at Shura.

“He wasn’t wearing much when I got there!” cried Shura, his cheeks turning red. “I didn’t do anything, I swear!”

An employee came out from the other side of the counter, holding a broom.

“Sir! You cannot be in the restaurant without clothes!” she said, visibly shaking from outrage while at the same time trying to not look directly at Aioros. 

“But I’m wearing clothes!” 

“Sir, you need  _ more _ clothes,” she said, brandishing the broom at him and pushing him outside while some of the people in the restaurant started taking pictures of him. “We cannot provide service if you’re not wearing a shirt and pants!”

“Wait, you can’t kick out my brother!” cried Aioria.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” said Aioros, holding his hands up and retreating towards the door. “I’ll just go get some clothes and be back right away! It’ll only be a moment!

Once he was gone, the employee went back behind the counter, broom still in hand like a weapon. Aioria turned towards Shun.

“You kept my brother naked in the underworld?” he demanded.

Shun flinched a bit, before his hair turned black and a look of evil glee appeared in his face. 

_ “He had to be kept in a special prison because he kept escaping from cocytus and beating up my specters. He’s a nuisance,” _ he said, the deep voice of Hades echoing along with Shun’s.

“You little,” said Aioria, grabbing at Shun’s shirt, but the other’s held him away, and Ikki stepped in front of his brother. 

“Hey, you stop that! That’s my brother’s body!” he said, pushing Aioria away. “It’s not his fault Hades has to be kept inside him!”

Aioria huffed and stopped struggling.

“You’re right. Sorry, sorry…,” he said.

Mu stood between them, trying to diffuse the situation. 

“Why don’t we all just focus on eating?” he said with a pacifying smile. 

Seiya, still being carried on Hyoga’s back, whispered to him. 

“Hey Hyoga, you got any money?” 

“Errr, no…,” said Hyoga, finally realizing that they might not be able to pay for food for nearly twenty people. 

“Guys I don’t think we’re gonna be able to eat here now,” said Hyoga.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“What? Why not?!” cried Deathmask. “I have no idea what they sell here, but it smells delicious!”

“Well, we need to pay and we don’t have any money. Do any of you have any money on you?” tried to reason Hyoga. 

“Can’t the sanctuary pay for it?” asked Aphrodite, hands on his hips. “I always charge everything to the Sanctuary’s account.” 

“Do you have a card for the sanctuary’s account?” 

“What? No, I just tell the servants to buy me whatever I need.” 

Hyoga hung his head. “...Oh,” was the only thing he could say.

The door opened and Aioros came back in wearing a gray sweatshirt, jeans and tennis.

Every single one of his pockets was full to the brim with different kinds of bills.

“Hey, I’m back!” he said, a bright smile in his face. “And look at these shoes! They are so comfortable!”

“Where did you get all that?” asked Mu, pointing at his clothes. “And why do you have so much money on you?” 

“Well, I went to a store down the street to buy clothes, but they asked me for money and when I said I didn’t have any, they said I could withdraw some from an ATM a few blocks away. I opened the ATM and there was a lot of money there, so I bought my clothes and there was still so much left! Those ATMs are such practical things!” said Aioros, pulling handfuls of bills from his pockets.

All of them fell silent, processing the information, until Aphrodite clapped his hands, a smile on his face.

“Well, that solves our problems,” he said. “Let’s order, I’m dying for a glass of wine”

“Uhmmm, they don’t sell wine at kfc unless it’s Christmas, right?” wondered Shun, trying to remember the ads he’d seen on tv in Japan.

“What is a Christmas?” asked Aphrodite.

“Errr, it’s a celebration for a different god,” said Shun, who really didn’t want to get into a theology discussion. Especially considering he had an actual god inside him who tended to give unwanted opinions at the drop of a hat.

Aphrodite rolled his eyes. “So they don’t have wine, fine, I’ll have a beer then. Fuck everything, we just killed a god.” 

“ _ I’m right here, you idiot! _ ” yelled Hades from inside Shun. 

Aphrodite made a move  to punch him but Shura and Deathmask held him back. Ikki yanked Shun to stand behind him.

“Sirs, if you are not ready to order, then could you please let the other people in the queue order first?” said the teenager at the counter. 

“No! We were here first!” yelled Aphrodite, at the end of his rope.

Kanon stepped forward. 

“So what do you sell here in the first place?” he asked.

“Uhmm, chicken. Fried chicken.” 

“Well, then I’ll just have a chicken and whatever you have for drinking. I just want to eat something,” said Kanon, fed up with everything. 

“Err, how many pieces?” asked the employee.

“I don’t care.” 

“But I need to know how many pieces you’ll want.” 

“However many pieces you can cut up the chicken into. Good gods, how many pieces can that be?! It’s a chicken!” 

Saga moved to stand closer behind him. 

“Get me one too,” he said to his brother. 

“You hate chicken.” 

“Look, I’m starving,” whined Saga. 

Kanon rolled his eyes and turned back to the guy on the counter.

“Make that two chickens. Cut it into however many pieces you want,” he said.

The guy seemed to not understand what he wanted, and was about to speak when another employee, the woman who had shooed Aioros out pushed him away from the register and took his place.

“Is 8 ok?” she asked.

“Yeah, whatever,” said Kanon with a dismissive wave of his hand. 

“Two sets of eight?” 

“Yes” 

“Done, that’s $20 Please choose your drink over there. We have soda, water, or tea.” 

Kanon turned to Aioros behind him.

“Aioros, give me $20” he demanded.

The archer pulled out a handful of bills and gave them to him. Once Kanon had paid, Aioros and Aioria stepped up to the register.

“I’ll have two of those sandwiches,” he said, pointing to one of the pictures above. “And a kid’s meal for Aioria” 

“I’m twenty years old” said his brother matter of factly.

“Two kids meals for Aioria,” corrected Aioros. 

Aioria sighed.

“And one sandwich like yours,” he said. 

“I don’t think you’ll be able to finish so much food.” 

“I will. I promise.” 

“Fine, but you never finish your food.” 

The employee rubbed at her temples.

“Which sides for the kid’s meal? Greens or mashed potatoes?” she asked. 

“Mashed potatoes!” said Aioria, smiling at one of his favorite foods. 

Aioros frowned. “One with greens and one with mashed potatoes,” he said. 

“But I hate greens!” complained Aioria. 

“I know, and making you eat them gave me the patience to become the sagittarius saint,” said his brother. 

“That’ll be $30” said the employee, setting down two cardboard glasses.

Aioros paid and the two of them moved away to let forward Shura, who was surrounded on one side by Aphrodite and on the other by Deathmask.

“I want something sweet,” said Aphrodite. “Get me some of those biscuits filled with chocolate, a piece of cake, some of those really big cookies... and do you have anything decent to drink in this trashcan of a restaurant? Some tea perhaps?” 

The employee gritted her teeth at that. Aphrodite noticed her badge said “Supervisor” and below there was a name tag, but there was a stain and he couldn’t make out the name.

“We have iced tea,” she muttered through her teeth.

Aphrodite rolled his eyes. “That’s fine, whatever,” he said.

“What’s that?” asked Deathmask, pointing up to a picture above the counter. 

“That’s a double dog sandwich. It’s a chicken sandwich, but instead of normal bread, it’s wrapped in two glazed donuts,” she said.

“Disgusting” said Aphrodite, flinching away.

“I want two! And fries! And one of those fried chicken buckets!” said Deathmask, pointing at different items on the menus above the counter.

Shura sighed.

“I’ll have a black coffee,” he said. “How much will that be?”

“That’s too little food!” said Aioros, walking up to him. “You need to eat more! Look, you grew up to be all skinny because you don’t eat enough!”

Shura felt his cheeks burning from that. Behind him, the bronze saints snickered and tried to hide it, but Shura could hear them, especially Shiryu’s voice.

“You should get something more. At least a sandwich! Look, what is that one?” asked Aioros, pointing at something that Shura couldn’t recognize. It did have a vague, sandwich-like shape, but…

“That’s our special double chicken sandwich. It’s a meat sandwich, but instead of bread it has two pieces of fried chicken.”

Shura’s stomach twisted in terror.

“That’ll be good. One of those for Shura,” said Aioros. 

The supervisor nodded. “That’ll be $50” 

Aioros paid, and Shura didn’t have the energy to even try to contradict him.

“I don’t know if he forgave you and is worried about you, or if that’s part of his vengeance,” whispered Aphrodite in Shura’s ear.

Deathmask snickered. “Either way, it looks tasty,” he whispered as they moved away from the cashier.

Aldebaran stepped forward towards the cashier, still carrying the three judges as if they were weightless dolls.

“I’ll have ten chickens,” he said. “What will you have, specters?” 

“I don’t want any of your stupid food, you worthless Athena slaves!” roared Rhadamanthys.

Minos looked up at the menus. 

“I want the chicken wings,” he said. 

“Minos!!!” yelled both Rhadamanthys and Aiakos

“And that” said Minos, pointing with his head. “What’s a popcorn chicken? How do you pop the chicken? I want that too.” 

“Minos, I swear!” roared Rhadamanthys.

Milo tore off his sleeves and stuffed them in the mouths of both Aiakos and Rhadamanthys. 

“You two keep quiet. I’m hungry,” he said, patting their heads and ruffling their hair.

The supervisor pointedly ignored the gagging and the fact that the three of them were tied up with chains. 

“Three buckets of twelve pieces, an order of sixteen chicken wings, and a medium sized order of popcorn chicken. Is that alright?” 

“I want the big popped chickens” said Minos.

Aiakos tried to kick him and Aldebaran had to grab him and Rhadamanthys and shake them up for them to calm down. 

“That’ll be $80” said the supervisor.

“Aioros, please?” asked Aldebaran.

“We should get something for the other specters,” said Aioros in concern.

Minos gave a soft laugh. “They’ll be fine. They eat very little,” he said.

Aioros shrugged and paid for their meal.

Seiya smiled and looked up at Aioria. “Your brother is such a mother hen to everyone. I didn’t expect him to be like that when I felt his spirit in the Sagittarius cloth,” he said. 

Aioria blushed and looked away. 

“Ah, he…,” he started. 

Hades scoffed. “ _ He’s an annoying brute- _ SORRY!” said Shun, covering his mouth.

Milo and Camus stepped up to the cashier.

“You kids should get something too,” said Milo, looking up at the products above the counter. “What do you want?” 

“Uhm, we’ll order later,” said Seiya. 

“Nonsense, you order now. What do you guys want? Those sandwiches look nice,” he said, pointing up. 

Seiya’s stomach rumbled, and he gave up. 

“I want one of those sandwiches that have chicken instead of bread,” he said, his mouth watering at the thought. He couldn’t even remember the last time he ate. 

“Nice! One of those frankensandwiches for the god slayer! And a giant cookie!” ordered Milo, and ruffled Seiya’s hair. 

Hades growled.  _ “I’m right here! Stop pretending I’m dead!” _

“I want a normal sandwich,” said Ikki, then he turned towards his brother. “Shun?” 

“I’m not hungry,” he said, looking down. “ _ We are. Get the sandwich. This feeling of hunger is annoying... _ I’ll...have a sandwich” 

They all decided to ignore Hades’ words in favor of their collective mental health.

“Hyoga?” asked Camus, lifting an elegant eyebrow at him in expectation.

“Errr, I just want some fries and a coffee,” said Hyoga with a shrug, as he rearranged Seiya on his back. 

“Is that how you always eat? That’s why you’re so skinny,” complained Camus. 

Milo nodded. “Get him that package,” he said, pointing to a photo posted above the counter. “The one with chicken and mashed potatoes. He needs to put on some weight” 

“I’m fine!” cried Hyoga. Behind him, Seiya snickered. 

“And milk for them,” said Camus. 

“Sorry sir, we don’t have milk as a separate beverage,” said the woman. 

“What does that even mean?” 

“The kids’ meal includes milk. You can add them to your order.” 

Camus shrugged. “And one of those for each of them” 

“I don’t like milk,”  protested Ikki. 

“Children should drink milk,” said Camus with a tone of finality. 

“Leave it, you won’t change his mind,” said Hyoga, already knowing that he wouldn’t get his master to change his mind. 

“That’s right. He’s as stubborn as a mule!” said Milo, laughing so loud, the few patrons left at the restaurant turned to stare at him.

Camus narrowed his eyes at him.

“And you’re the one to call me stubborn?” he asked.

Milo laughed again and pinched Camus’ cheek. 

“Stubborn! A stubborn and overwhelming dad! Now, get that one for us,” he said, letting go of Camus’ cheek and pointing to a package up above them. “Twelve pieces sounds good for both of us, and I want the biscuits with chocolate inside. Aioros, money!”

Aioros smiled and gave them handfuls of bills to pay for the food. Then they all looked around.

“Is that all of us?” asked Aldebaran. “Wait, where are Mu and Shaka?” 

The door opened and Mu and Shaka came in through the door 

“Sorry, sorry, we were just looking at how many police cars were passing through,” said Mu, hurrying to the counter. “It looks as if something happened nearby. Ah, I don’t know what to get...I’ve never had fried chicken like this before…” 

Shaka walked up to him.

“I want chicken curry,” he said. 

The woman at the  cash register  took a deep, deep breath.

“Sorry sir, we do not sell curry here,” she said, pulling together all of her customer service training. 

“But you said you sold chicken,” said Shaka with a frown. 

“Fried. Fried chicken.” 

“If you add the chicken to the curry then I don’t see the problem.” 

“But we don’t have any curry here.” 

“What kind of restaurant doesn’t have a single curry on the menu?” asked Shaka, truly shocked. “All the restaurants in Calcutta have curry.” 

The woman started rubbing her temples, trying desperately to fight against the migraine she felt coming. 

“Sir, we are not in Calcutta,” she said. 

“Let’s just get a sandwich. That one looks good. Two sandwiches”” said Mu, knowing that Shaka, who had gone from Calcutta to the house of Virgo and then never left, was never going to understand anything at all about the restaurant.

“And parathas. Do you have parathas?” said Shaka. 

“Is that a dessert?” asked the woman, grasping at anything she could think of to understand what he wanted. “We have cookies and cake.” 

Shaka made an annoyed face. 

“No. Hmmm, I’ve never had chicken wings. Let’s get some of those,” he said in the end. “I’ve heard people like them.”

Aioros paid for that too, and they all looked around. 

“I think that’s all,” said Aioria. “Let’s find somewhere to sit down.”

“Wait!” called Shiryu, suddenly realizing someone was missing. “Where is the old master?”

“Ah! He asked me for money and said he would be back soon,” said Aioros. “It’s been a while though. And he didn’t say where-“ 

Dohko came in through the door, carrying a couple of bags with bottles inside.

“Hey, hey, we couldn’t have a celebration without drinks!” he said, holding up the bags and walking towards the counter. “I got wine and beer. Serve yourselves, I’m gonna get something.” 

Aphrodite clapped and reached for one of the bags, while the others took the rest and looked inside. 

“Sir, you can’t drink here,” said the woman at the c ash register 

Dohko winked at her.

“We can if you don’t notice us,” he said, pulling a few bills from his pocket and sliding them over the counter at her. She frowned, then rolled her eyes and pocketed the money. 

“What will you order?” she asked, and Dohko grinned.

“Give me two of the biggest sandwiches you have, chicken wings, and get an ice cream for all of them, that’s twelve...sixteen...Nineteen. Yes, nineteen ice creams. The specters can have one too. And have you kids had dinner yet?” he said, motioning for the other employees hiding at the back. “Go ahead and get something to eat for yourselves too.”

The woman took the money, put the necessary amount in the register and pocketed the rest. Then she grabbed a bunch of paper cups.

“No underage drinking,” she said, handing the cups to Dohko. 

“Nope,” he said, snatching the cups and his order, easily maneuvering the two trays holding all the ice creams.

He went up to where the others had moved several tables together to arrange themselves into a circle. He passed the trays around so everyone could grab an ice cream. Rhadamanthys and Aiakos growled at them, so Minos took their ice creams and started eating them.

Aphrodite opened a beer.

“Gods, I needed a drink. I can’t believe we pulled that whole thing at the wailing wall,” he said, and started drinking. 

“I think even Athena didn’t expect that,” said Milo, while Camus served him wine in a cardboard glass.

_ “None of us did. Your set never succeeds,”  _ said Hades, and took a bite of his sandwich. __

“What the fuck does that mean?” asked Kanon. 

_ “Athena has different sets of saints that reincarnate for different holy wars. Similar, but different souls. You as a whole team never succeed, but end up self-destroying,” _ explained Hades.  _ “The most you achieve is destroying my judges and specters while also self-destroying.” _

Deathmask lifted his eyebrows at that. 

“You know what? That does explain a lot. But now look who got sealed in some sixteen year old kid’s body after we destroyed the underworld, uh? I’ll drink to that.” He said, and lifted his wine filled KFC paper cup.

All the saints cheered while Hades narrowed his eyes at them, still eating his chicken sandwich. Rhadamanthys, outraged, started fighting against the chains around him. Aiakos followed suit and Shun had to let go of his sandwich to strengthen the hold on them.

Aldebaran rolled his eyes at their struggle and wiped his hands clean. Then he grabbed the specters’ heads and slammed them against each other, rendering them unconscious. Minos observed them, impassive as he kept shoving popcorn chicken into his mouth.

“Oh, no! That wasn’t necessary!” cried Shun.

“But it was very efficient, and far easier,” said Kanon with a smirk.

They removed them from their seats and threw them into the ball pit at the kid’s play area.

“Can I have wine too?” asked Minos, after his brothers were removed from the table.

“Wine’s for the winners,” said Deathmask, smirking at him. 

Aioros filled up a paper cup with wine.

“Please behave,” he told Minos as he handed him the cup.

Minos took a sip. “Ah, this is terrible wine. Possibly the worst I’ve tasted. Nice,” he said, an easy smile on his lips.

There was a loud noise from the tv and they all looked up to see an announcement that said “Breaking News”. A middle aged woman in a suit came on the screen with a serious expression on her face. 

“Just a short while ago, a dangerous man robbed a bank near downtown,” she said.

“A thief? That sounds terrible,” said Aioros, unwrapping his second sandwich. 

“Isn’t that you?” asked Saga, pointing to the tv, where a low resolution video of a man in red underwear tore open the ATM machine. “Did you rob a bank?” 

“What? Of course not! I would never rob anyone! I just had trouble opening the ATM,” said Aioros, narrowing his eyes up at the images on the tv. “Maybe someone else also wearing red underwear robbed the bank? I don’t know how popular red underwear is nowadays.” 

“But are you sure you were supposed to open the ATM?” asked Camus. 

“Well, why else would the store people tell me that I could get money from there?” 

“He’s got a point there,” said Milo.

The  bronze  saints huddled together.

“Should we tell them?” asked Shiryu in a whisper. 

“No, let’s just leave it at that,” said Shun. “He might get his feelings hurt.”

“Yeah, but he did rob a bank…,” whispered Ikki.

“He barely has any idea of how banks work,” hissed Seiya. “Let’s not say anything.”

They separated, decided to not say a word about how Aioros had accidentally robbed a bank. The door to the restaurant opened and a frazzled Shion came in.

“What are you all doing?” he demanded, standing before them. 

“Celebrating!” said Dohko, motioning for him to sit down next to him. “Come, I got food for you. How’s Athena?” 

Shion sighed, but went on to sit down next to him. Dohko unwrapped a sandwich and handed it to him.

“Fine. She’s alright at home now and her butler is taking care of her. What on earth is this?” he asked, frowning at the monstrosity of a sandwich in his hands. Two pieces of fried chicken wrapped by two glazed donuts. 

“A fried chicken sandwich,” said Dohko with a huge grin on his face. 

“What strange ideas modern people have,” said Shion, and took a hesitant bite from the sandwich. “But it tastes fine, and I guess we all could use some food to- WAIT WHERE ARE THE OTHER SPECTERS?!”

Minos finished the popcorn chicken and moved on to the chicken wings.

Shun pulled the Andromeda chains and dragged Aiakos and Rhadamanthys out of the ball pit. Shion stared at them, blinking a couple times to make sure that he really was seeing what he was seeing.

“They weren’t hungry,” said Minos, and took a sip of his wine. 

“...Oh,” said Shion, and resumed eating his sandwich.

Seeing how Shion was enjoying the sandwich, Aphrodite gave in to temptation and turned to Deathmask, who was eating one just like that.

“Give me some of that monstrosity of a sandwich you have,” he hissed. 

“It’s really good!” said Deathmask, and handed it to him. 

Aphrodite took a deep breath, and gave a very hesitant bite to the sandwich.

“Ugh, It’s actually good. I’m so angry that such monstrosity actually tastes good,” he said. 

Shion smiled. “Don’t drink or eat too much. Our forms are still very unstable. I do not know what the effects of excess pressure on them might be,” he said. “Even the specters’ forms are too unstable. Especially so because Athena is anchoring the underworld to them.” 

“I feel fine,” said Minos as he finished his chicken wings and wiped his lips clean with a napkin. I feel great, in fact. So great, I think I’ll go for a stroll.”

He jumped right out of the Andromeda chains that Shun had loosened around him while he ate. Then he transformed into a great black bird and flew out the window in a second, vanishing among the shadows.

“How…how did he do that…?” asked Aioria.

Shion facepalmed. “I just  _ said _ their forms are very unstable,” he said, and sat back down. “It seems like he just figured out how to manipulate the instability. But don’t worry. He can’t go anywhere that Athena cannot find him.”

On the tv, the breaking news clips played again and Shion looked at it. He frowned, then turned to Aioros.

“Is that you? Did you rob a bank?” he asked, pointing at the video of him breaking open the ATM. 

Aioros had a horrified expression in his face.

“Of course not! Shion, do you think I would ever rob anyone?” he asked.

Shion sighed. “Let’s go to Athena’s home. Is everyone done eating?” 

Aioria was pushing his greens around his plate.

“Finish that,” ordered Aioros. 

Aioria pouted. “I hate greens,” he complained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You will notice that Shaka is not vegetarian in this fic. This was due to a confusion on my part. But sadly when it was pointed out at me, I did not have the time or energy to rewrite the part where that happened.   
> Please accept my apologies for that.
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to: alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Otherwise, you can find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	3. Chapter 3

Once they teleported to the Kido house, already fed, mostly happy, and ready to have a long nap, another problem presented itself.

Despite how grand the mansion was, it did not have anywhere near twenty different rooms. It had little more than ten.

Shion sat down at one of the couches, holding his head.

“Are you ok?” asked Dohko. 

Shion nodded. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” he said with a slight smile. “It’s just that the way Athena brought me back was a bit of a jolt.”

“Who are all of these people?!” cried Tatsumi when he came down the staircase and found several different men standing around the living room and the dining room. 

“Tatsumi! Where is Saori?” asked Seiya, walking towards him. 

Tatsumi pushed him aside and kept walking towards Shion. 

“You were the one who brought lady Saori back, but why did you bring all of the golden saints too?! Didn’t some of them try to kill lady Saori? And who even are you anyway?!”

Milo kicked him in the back of the knees and Tatsumi fell down to kneel on the living room carpet. 

“Mind your manners before the Pope, you rat,” he spat.

“You little-!” muttered Tatsumi. 

Milo grabbed Tatsumi by the scruff of his neck, forcing him to keep bowing before Shion.

Shun moved to try and help Tatsumi, but Aioria and Shaka held him back. 

“He seems like a very bad mannered guy,” said Aioros with an easygoing smile in his face, and made no move to try and stop Milo. 

The bronze saints looked at each other, wondering if the golden saints would actually try and hurt Tatsumi just for being rude.

Shion held up his hands and motioned to placate everyone.

“Enough, enough. Milo let go of him. He doesn’t know most of what just happened,” he said. “And I’m sorry but we will have to impose on Athena’s house for now. The sanctuary is in shambles, and it would be much better for us all to keep guard over Hades and his judges here where we can easily protect the goddess.”

“Indeed, it would be better,” said Saori from the top of the staircase. 

Everybody on the first floor looked up at her. When they saw her, all the golden saints went down on one knee before her. 

“Saori! Are you ok?” asked Seiya, walking up to the staircase, but he started getting winded, and he had to hold on to the railing, even before he had climbed a single step. Shiryu rushed to hold him up.

Saori nodded. She looked pale and exhausted. 

“I’m fine. But I’ll…need to recover for a while. Tatsumi, please ensure everybody’s comfortable during their stay. I’ll go back to sleep and…might not wake up for a while. Please don’t worry about it,” she said, and then pointed at the judges. Their chains became white and wrapped themselves tighter around them. “That should keep them out of trouble for a few days at least.”

She then turned and went back to her room with hesitant, wobbly steps.

Only when she was gone did the golden saints moved to stand up. Tatsumi huffed in dignified annoyance. 

“Well, I suppose you might all fit into the available rooms if you share,” he said, looking over at the saints with contempt. 

“Where can I leave these?” asked Aldebaran, still carrying the two unconscious judges over his shoulders.

Tatsumi proposed leaving them in a room. The rest asked if he wouldn’t happen to have a cold, dark dungeon to throw them in.

By luck, he actually did.

In the basement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.   
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest to subscribe to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	4. Chapter 4

Pandora ran.

She felt her body lighter than it had been. Lighter than it should be. As if she was only half fluttering through the world as she ran away, through cities and forests and so many places that blurred past her as she ordered her body to run faster than any human ever could. 

But run where?

The many facets of the world passed her by. Countries and towns and villages that she didn’t know. Faces of strangers sensing a dark presence rush by, without being able to see her at her speed. 

Run. Run away. From Athena and from the light and from the heaviness that she felt at the back of her mind. As if something weighed down her soul, no matter how light her body felt.

Run. Run away. But where?

She felt tears run down her face and she ran faster.

She finally collapsed as the light of dawn colored the sky. She fell down in a town that looked familiar to her somehow. She stopped and sat down at a deserted sidewalk, panting for breath that she wasn’t sure she actually needed. 

The streets around her seemed different, but the feel to the buildings and to the architecture of the whole town seemed to echo memories inside her. 

“Lady are you alright?” asked a cop, standing next to her.

Pandora suddenly realized how she might look in his eyes. All frazzled hair and disheveled black dress and no shoes.

She looked down at her feet.

When had she lost her shoes? Had Athena brought her back with no shoes? She wouldn’t put it past her to do something like that.

She jumped up to her feet and straightened her black dress.

“Yes,” she told the cop. “I’m perfectly fine, thank you.”

“Would you like help getting home?” 

She huffed. “I don’t have a home, but I’ll be fine,” she muttered.

The cop narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you really sure you’re ok? If you’re lost-“

“I said I’m fine, you puny mortal man! Leave me alone or I’ll have lord Hades send your soul to the deepest prison of hell!”

The cop raised his eyebrows at that. 

A few minutes later, Pandora found herself in a police car, being carted off to jail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.   
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest to subscribe to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	5. Chapter 5

Deathmask, Aphrodite, and Shura stood at different points of the room they’d determined as theirs, carefully eyeing the only two beds inside.

“We could toss a coin to see who gets a bed,” said Deathmask, leaning against the wall. 

“Do you have even a single cent on you, genius?” said Aphrodite lifting an eyebrow at him.

“We could get one from Aioros,” said the cancer saint, and stuck out his tongue at him.

Shura walked up to the beds and pushed them against each other.

“There. We all fit in the beds,” he said, and crossed his arms.

“We Do Not Fit,” said Aphrodite, hands on his hips.

“Oh, so you’re fat or something?” said Shura, and then pointed at Deathmask “He’s a twig. I’m probably the heaviest of us all.”

“Hey! I just…lost a lot of weight in hell,” said Deathmask, crossing his arms.

“Are you fucking serious?” asked Aphrodite.

“It’s not like it would be the first time” said the Capricorn saint, and sat down on the edge of the bed, daring Aphrodite to move him.

“Shura we are neither ten nor having sex. Wait, are we gonna have sex?” 

“No” 

“Hmph. Imagined that. With Aioros back...” 

Shura jumped to his feet. 

“Sheesh! Don’t mention him! He’ll hear you!” he hissed. 

“We can’t just hide here from him forever!” said Aphrodite, but he also lowered his voice.

“Well, go ahead and go look for him if you want to. Be my guest,” said Shura, pointing to the door.

Aphrodite rolled his eyes at him, when there was a knock at the door and the three of them startled.

“Who is it?!” yelled Deathmask.

The door opened and Shiryu stepped inside with a tentative step. He bowed politely.

“Oh, hey, it’s you. The kid that killed me,” said Deathmask, moving away from the wall to wave at Shiryu 

Aphrodite frowned. 

“Who? He killed you?” 

Shura gave a dismissive wave of his hand. 

“Oh, he killed me too. I gave him the Capricorn cloth and Excalibur,” he said.

“Master Shion said he would like to tell you all a few things before you go to sleep,” he said, and his eyes went to the two beds pushed together. He blinked a couple times, and then looked at the three of them.

Shura cleared his throat, feeling his face start to heat up. 

“Uhm, we…we’ll be there in a moment,” he said.

Dohko peeked inside the room.

“It’s now kids. I want you all down now! Get going!” he demanded.

The three groaned and started walking out of the room. Shiryu smiled as he saw them leave.

“I’m hoping they won’t give much trouble. Shion used to say in his letters that they were no end of mischief when they were little,” said Dohko.

“They’re...not as I imagined them,” said Shiryu. 

Dohko smirked at him.

“You’ll have more than enough surprises soon,” he said, and they both walked out and down into the living room of the first floor.

The rest of the golden saints were already standing in a loose circle in front of Shion, who was busy reading through a few papers.

“Alright, just a few quick things before you all go rest,” he said, and looked up from the papers. He frowned at them. “Why are you not arranged in formation?” 

All of them looked at each other. Indeed, they had arranged themselves in loose groups just a bit apart from each other.

“Errr, because it’s not a formal audience?” said Deathmask with a cheeky smile.

Shion gave him the Glare Of Doom.

They all arranged themselves in a circle before him by house order.

Standing in the kitchen, the bronze saints stared at the whole thing with curiosity. 

“I thought Shion wasn’t so demanding with the whole protocol thing, but it looks like he is,” said Shun, seeing how all the golden saints had started standing straight.

“They all are like that at the sanctuary,” said Seiya, rummaging in the fridge and pulling out a carton of milk. “It’s annoying. Why won’t he just let them stand however they want?”

Ikki moved closer to the kitchen door to lean against the frame, not caring that the golden saints would notice him eavesdropping on them.

“Arrange yourselves into guards. One for the Hades vessel, one for Athena’s, and another for the judges,” said Shion, looking them over.

“I’ll look for the Hades vessel,” said Milo.

Ikki gritted his teeth and hit the door frame.

“He’s my brother and he has a name!” he called. 

None of the saints moved to even acknowledge that he had spoken. Only Shion looked over at him. 

“He does, but we’re not guarding your brother. We’re guarding that the god inside him doesn’t escape,” he said, then turned towards Milo. “You’ll have today, and the next ones will be by house order. 

Aioros raised his hand. 

“I’ll guard the judges,” he said. 

“No, you go to sleep. Aldebaran, you’ll guard them tonight, and the next one by house order, but skip Aioros for every guard,” he ordered.

Ikki noticed Aioros’ hands clenching into fists, but the golden saint said nothing more.

Shaka volunteered to guard Athena, and the guards were all set.

“The rest, I want you to arrange yourselves to give regular walks around the perimeter,” said Shion. “I know that we can all sense any cosmos disturbance, but I want you all to be on the lookout anyway. Be extra wary. Pandora and the other judge are still out there, and they’re very dangerous. We must not let our guard down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.  
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest subscribing to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	6. Chapter 6

Pandora had been jailed for disturbing the peace, then for resisting arrest, and finally for assaulting an officer when she kicked him in the balls as he tried to put her in the police car.

Thankfully, she had a jail cell all to herself, so she could brood in peace about how much she hated the world, the cops, and Athena. Especially Athena.

After a while of laying down in her cot, she heard a racket from near the place where the cops were sitting at their desks, and a couple female cops dragged a woman into the cells who was kicking and screaming like a banshee.

Pandora moved to lie on her side to see the show.

“You have no idea who I am! I’ll sue all of you! I’ll sue every single of you damn pigs! Do you even know how rich my family is?!” she yelled with a drunken drawl as the cops dragged her to the furthest cell in the back, out of sight and where her screaming wasn’t so loud.

The only things remarkable about her was that the long black dress that she wore seemed to be of a nice quality. Also her shoes, tall black boots that reminded Pandora of how cold her own feet were.

She rolled her eyes and laid down on her back again, grabbing the spoon she’d been given for lunch and started scratching at the wall. She was going to kill every single person in this police precinct as soon as she got back her weapons. She wondered what had been of her trident…

A few hours later, when Pandora was about to fall asleep, she heard another woman yelling near the entrance. She rubbed at her face. How many yelling women were in this town? And why did they all have to be arrested at the same time as her?!

“This has all been a misunderstanding and I demand that lady Palas be released right now,” said a woman. 

Pandora sat up on the edge of the bed and ran her fingers through her hair. She felt like she was about to go insane from how ridiculous her whole situation seemed. How come she was brought back just for her to be thrown in jail and have to endure so much constant noise and yelling?

She had just escaped Athena, only to be caught by some puny little human cops who seemed to not like her attitude. But she no longer had any more strength to fight them when they’d caught her. She was definitely making sure to destroy this whole place down to the last brick as soon as she got her strength back.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but we seem to have misplaced her papers and report,” said a cop.

Pandora looked over to the cop and noticed a woman standing in front of the desk, wearing the ugliest and most ill fitting navy suit with a green tie over the white shirt. The whole outfit was so jarringly ugly that Pandora couldn’t help but look her over, noticing that she wore a black face mask that covered her mouth and nose, and her hair seemed to have been the victim of the most terrible black dye job she had ever seen. Some of the original color underneath could still be seen, which looked like some strange shade of green.

Pandora narrowed her eyes at her. How could anyone stand to go outside looking like that?

The woman looked up and noticed Pandora staring at her with disgust and contempt, and her eyebrows lifted.

“But it’s her! Let her out now!” she demanded of the cop at the desk. Then she jogged up to Pandora’s cell. “Lady Palas, I’m so sorry for this confusion. I can’t believe that they confused you at the airport, but I’ve got all the documents to release you here.”

Pandora tilted her head. Well, this woman was insane. That certainly explained her choice in outfit and hair colors.

Then, an image flashed across Pandora’s mind, and she saw in her mind the woman who had been dragged into the farthest cell hours ago, completely drunk. Hadn’t she also worn a black dress similar to hers? And didn’t she also have long, black hair like hers?

“I’m sorry, but it’s too early, the full reports haven’t been completed for all the arrests,” said the cop at the desk, messing with a bunch of files. “And it’s change of turn, so the officers who arrested them aren’t here right now.”

“But here’s the judge’s order for release,” said the woman in the suit, presenting her a bunch of documents. “It has all been a case of mistaken identity. The airport police messed up the names.”

Sensing an opportunity, Pandora jumped to her feet and went to grab the bars of her cell.

“I demand to be released right now!” she said, “I am Lady Palas, and it is an outrage for you to have arrested me!”

The cop at the desk put on some glasses and squinted to read the papers presented to her. Then she squinted up at Pandora. 

“Oh, right, I remember her. Made a racket and was very drunk. Yes, some issue at the airport. John, please bring the lady out and let’s process her release,” she said.

Pandora smirked. Her luck was finally changing, she barely could believe it.

It took a few moments of filling out forms and singing papers, but Pandora was finally free with a few embarrassed apologies from the police at the precinct. 

“I’m so, so sorry my lady,” said the ugly woman, fiddling with Pandora’s release papers. “Please follow me, the car is this way. I’ll take you to the mansion. I didn’t expect you to arrive so early, otherwise I would have received you at the airport.”

Pleased with the idea of being taken to a mansion, Pandora followed the woman to a sleek black car parked nearby, smirking to herself all the way.

“I picked up your luggage from the airport too. Gods, what happened to your shoes?! Did the police keep them? Should I go back for them?” 

“I lost them during the transport to the jail,” she said with a displeased expression. “But they don’t matter right now. I brought others in my luggage.”

The woman hurried to open the trunk and revealed two big suitcases.

“Yes, of course, I checked that all your luggage was not tampered with, but the police at the airport still looked through it so it won’t be the way you organized it,” she said, opening one of the suitcases. There were several pairs of shoes inside, including some boots like the ones that Pandora had liked on the drunken woman. And they seemed to be her own size too, what a strike of good luck.”

She grabbed a pair and got inside the car.

The woman drove her towards a big mansion that seemed very familiar to Pandora, babbling all the way about things that Pandora had no idea about.

“And I’m sorry to say we exceeded the budget for the renovations, so we don’t have any staff right now. I called the chef and she’s on her way, but you may find that the mansion is not fully operational right now. Perhaps you would prefer to stay at a hotel while the renovations keep going.”

The large black gates of the mansion opened for them and they went through a driveway piled on the sides by piles of building materials. 

Up ahead stood a mansion that Pandora recognized well. 

It was her family’s mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.  
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest subscribing to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	7. Chapter 7

Mu helped Shion settle down in one of the rooms closest to Athena’s. 

“The butler said that there were some clothes that we could use until we could get some of our own,” he said, helping Shion to sit down at the edge of the bed. “I’ll check them tomorrow afternoon.”

Shion nodded. He looked tired in a different way than Mu remembered him being. It felt strange to look at him as the young man that Mu had never met, but who also had those deep, piercing eyes that seemed capable of looking into the deepest parts of Mu’s mind. Those eyes that had in them the weight of centuries.

“That’s fine. But I want you to establish a perimeter around the mansion first,” said his master with a deep sigh. “Make sure that if anything happens, you can establish a crystal wall around the core of the estate.”

“Sure. Try to lay down. You look very tired.”

“I’m fine,” said Shion, with a soft smile that Mu almost didn’t recognize in such a youthful face. “It’s just that…being brought back this time was a bit of a jolt. When Hades brought me back, it was more like being dead in a different way. As if the dream of hell I was in simply… continued on into the living world. But being brought back by Athena… it feels like being reborn in a way. I’m sorry, I can’t really explain it.”

Mu smiled. No, he couldn’t really understand it. To him it had all felt like falling asleep and then waking up again, to breathe again, to fight again…

“Don’t worry about that. Just lay down,” he said.

The door opened and Dohko strolled inside with a wide grin in his face.

“Hey, so this is gonna be our room,” he said, looking around at the two twin beds and the lights on the ceiling. 

“Actually, I’ll be staying with master Shion. He still needs some help recovering from the resurrection,” said Mu.

Dohko laughed. “Kiddo, you’re not understanding,” he said, walking up to Shion. Then he sat down next to him, grabbed the front of his long tunic, and pulled him closer to kiss him on the lips.

Mu felt all the blood draining from his face. He opened his mouth to say something. Then closed it. Then opened it again. 

He turned on his heels and walked out of the room.

“I’ll leave you alone!” he called back right before closing the door behind him. At the end of the corridor, Shaka peeked out of his room.

“Is everything ok?” he asked. 

Mu stalked up to him, got into the room, and closed the door.

“I think master Shion and old master Dohko had a relationship,” he said, and felt the whole thing become more real the moment the words left his mouth. 

“They were?” asked Shaka, tilting his head. 

“Are. Still have. Continue to have. I just saw them kiss,” babbled Mu, not even sure what he was saying anymore. 

“Oh,” said Shaka. Then he tapped the tip of his index finger against his lips, as if deep in thought for a moment. Afterwards, he tilted his head again. “I didn’t expect that.”

Mu gave a deep, deep sigh.

“Yeah, no wonder. Me neither,” he said.

There was a crash outside, and some unintelligible yelling. Mu opened the door to look outside, and something collided against him, throwing him on the floor.

“Stop! Stop that you little monster!” yelled Tatsumi, running into the room carrying a wooden sword. He grabbed at the small child clinging to him and tried to pull him away.

“Master Mu! You’re alright! I knew you would be alright!” cried Kiki, holding on to the front of Mu’s shirt for dear life.

Mu lifted a hand to stop Tatsumi from trying to pull the child away from him.

“Master Tatsumi, it’s alright. This is fine, don’t worry,” he said.

“Master Mu! This man is evil and wants to hit me!” cried Kiki, putting up his best ‘ _ I'm a weak little victim’  _ act.

Behind Tatsumi came running Ikki and Hyoga, who grabbed Tatsumi and forced him away from Mu and Kiki.

“Is Kiki ok?” asked Ikki,

Hyoga grabbed the wooden sword out of Tatsumi’s hands and crushed it.

“Did you hit him?!” he demanded. Tatsumi tried to pull away from him, but Hyoga held him in an iron hold.

“He was all around the house! He was messing everything up!” he yelled.

“That’s enough. I’ll take care of him,” said Mu, standing up from the floor, still carrying Kiki in his arms against his chest. 

“Master Mu! I knew you couldn’t be dead! I thought I’d felt your cosmos disappearing, but it wasn’t true!” cried Kiki, heavy tears falling down his face.

“What is all this scandal?” asked Camus, walking up to Shaka’s room. He was the only one wearing his cloth.

“Nothing, nothing,” said Mu with an apologetic smile, patting Kiki’s head. “Kiki just came looking for me.”

Camus gave Hyoga an icy stare.

“Let go of that man,” he ordered. Hyoga frowned, but did as he was told. 

“I think we can all now go to sleep. Sorry for the disturbance, Mister Tatsumi." said Camus.

Ikki scoffed and turned to walk away. 

“You don’t have to apologize to that trash. At least he didn’t manage to beat up Kiki.”

Camus gave a distasteful look at Ikki's back as he walked away, and seemed to want to say something, but refrained. Then he looked back at Hyoga. 

“Come,” he ordered, and walked up to his room.

Hyoga followed closely behind.

Shaka picked up the broken pieces of Tatsumi’s wooden sword and gave them back.

“What a day,” he said, closing the bedroom door.

Mu nuzzled his face against Kiki’s hair. 

“It really has been a wild day,” he mused, unable to stop smiling from feeling Kiki against him again.

Death had been no more than a night’s bad dream for him. But the sudden realization that he would no longer be able to see his child’s smile, or carry him around, had been scary enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.  
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest subscribing to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	8. Chapter 8

Shion hit Dohko in the forehead.

“What are you doing?!” he cried after Mu had ran out of the room.

Dohko gave a mischievous smirk.

“Ravishing you?” he said, and wrapped his arms around Shion’s waist, pulling him closer.

A shiver ran down Shion’s back.

“Y-you-“ he stammered.

Dohko moved to rub their noses together.

“I’ve missed you, old sheep. I’ve missed you so much,” he said, not letting go of Shion’s waist. “I think I never really realized how much I couldn't live without you until I felt your presence gone from the world.”

Shion reached up to caress Dohko’s hair. He himself had felt that same way too, when Saga had killed him that night, and he felt the last sparks of life leaving him. During those moments, the faces of all his fallen comrades had flashed through his mind. The smiles of each and the warmth of their company.

But his last breath had been spent in the regret of never having been able to stay with Dohko for as long as he’d wanted. His last word, an unheard call for the love of his heart.

He let his head fall against Dohko’s shoulder.

"So back then, before you left...You really felt something for me?" he whispered, feeling his cheeks burning.

The night before Dohko had parted for the waterfall had been the only time when Shion had allowed himself to reach out and ask for one of the desires of his heart.

_"Wait...," he'd whispered, reaching out to grab at Dohko's sleeve. "Let's have a drink together, one last time."_

_And one drink had turned into two, then four, and a couple bottles later they'd tumbled into Shion's new pope bed where Dohko had ripped off his robe and taken him. Softly at first, harder as Shion became desperate to cherish that one night._

"Feel something? Of course I did! I thought you...uhm...I thought it had only been about sex for you...," said Dohko.

Shion pulled away.

"What do you mean?!" he cried.

A terrified look crossed Dohko's face. "W-Well, you didn't even see me the next morning, and then the few times when you visited, uhmmm...you wanted to have sex, so I thought it was all sex to you."

Shion gritted his teeth, as he felt the blush on his cheeks extending to his whole face.

"W-Well, everybody had apparently heard me the night before, so I was embarrassed. And it's not like I'm a sex freak! Gods, have you thought I was just sex obsessed all of these years?!"

Dohko scratched at his chin. 

"Well, not really...Maybe a bit? But I mean, I mostly thought I had just been great."

Shion hit him in the shoulder.

"And yet you rejected me every time! I didn't know what to do then!" he said, his eyes filling with tears of frustration. He had felt so stupid throughout those years. Thinking how stupid his silly infatuation had been, for a comrade who had wanted him for a night and nothing more.

"Well, it's not like my heart could have taken it! I mean Gods, Shion, those times when you even slightly implied it were the toughest challenges to my oaths. Athena had demanded that my heart beat at a fraction of a normal man, it's not like I could have sex like that!" he said. "And Gods know I wanted! I sure did!"

Shion covered his face in embarrassment.

"W-what? Oh...oh, you can't be serious...," he muttered.

Something crashed outside, and Shion jolted, moving to look at the door

“What was that?” he asked.

The voices of Mu and Athena’s butler could be heard among the chaos. And also, a much younger voice. It sounded like a child.

“Oh, I think that’s Kiki, Mu’s child.”

Shion separated from Dohko and grabbed him by the shoulder.

“MU HAS A CHILD?!” he asked, the world tilting around him. “When did he-?! With who did he have a child?!”

Dohko laughed.

“Oh, nooo. He didn’t have him with anyone. He adopted him when he ran away from the Sanctuary, after you died.”

“He ran away from the sanctuary?? What? Why?!”

Dohko lifted his eyebrows at him.

“Do you want me to explain all the things you missed when you were dead or do you want me to ravish you? I don’t think I can do both.”

Shion bit his lower lip.

Well, Mu could always explain everything in detail later, right?

* * *

Camus went into his own room, closely followed by Hyoga. 

“Why are you wearing your cloth?” asked Hyoga.

Camus started taking it off.

“I reviewed the perimeter of the state,” he said, taking off his helmet and looking at it. For a moment, he wondered how Hyoga would look wearing it. The thought caused him an ache in his chest that annoyed him, so he shook his head to clear it from any thoughts like that. “I set up some ice webs and traps around, just as a secondary precaution, so watch out if you want to go out. Let me know beforehand.”

Hyoga made a vague noise of agreement and crossed his arms over his chest. Camus took a deep breath.

“I take it that Tatsumi hit you and Ikki then,” he said, pointedly staring at the pieces of his cloth that he was taking off, and not looking at Hyoga.

“Uh? Yeah, sure. He beat all us kids. Why?” asked Hyoga, confused.

Camus saw his own reflection staring back at him from the gold of his cloth.

“Why did he beat you, if you did not begin your training until you arrived at your places of training?”

“Pfff, I don’t know. Discipline and stuff. I don’t remember anymore. Why do you ask about it all of a sudden?”

Camus bit his lower lip. The eyes staring back at him from his reflection seemed to have a tinge of resentment.

The door to the bedroom opened and Milo came inside.

“Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting?” he asked.

Camus let go of the breath he had been holding.

“No, it’s nothing. You can leave now Hyoga,” he said.

“Uh? Really? But-“ started Hyoga.

“Go now. You need to rest,” ordered Camus, taking off the chest piece of his cloth. 

Hyoga rolled his eyes and walked out.

Milo giggled as he closed the door after Hyoga.

“Why are you so worried?” he asked.

Camus turned his back on him and sat down on the bed to start taking off the leg pieces of his cloth.

“I’m not,” he muttered.

Milo sat down on the opposite end of the bed. Camus felt the bed shift with his added weight.

“You ice princess, don’t act like I can’t see through you. Did you forget about your past life once you were dead?”

Camus scoffed. “There’s not much thinking to do when you’re dead,” he said, then looked up towards the window. Outside, the moon shone bright. He thought of Isaak, and he wondered if this Tatsumi guy had also beaten him. He wondered how he had felt, being dragged away by the icy currents. How he had felt while dying there.

He felt Milo lean against his back. His body warm and heavy.

“All I remember is sort of…going to sleep, you know?” said Milo, letting his head fall against Camus’.

“Hmph. That’s what happens shortly after you die. Then you sort of wake up and get judged and a bunch of shit happens,” said Camus, thinking of how he had been dragged to his place of punishment in Cocytus, and how he had not been granted his only petition.

_“Let me see Isaak! I need to see him! I need to tell- I need to tell him I’m sorry!”_

Milo reached out to hold his hand. Without the barrier of cloth separating them, his skin felt so much hotter.

“Oh, swearing. You really _are_ worried, uh?” he said.

“It’s nothing,” he said finally, his voice a whisper. If there was anyone that he would tell about his worried, it would be Milo. But…not tonight…

Milo held his hand harder just for a moment, then he let go of it.

“It’s fine. Just don’t let it obsess you like you always do when you’re worried. Anyway, I’m gonna go guard that Shun kid now.”

“You should already be there,” said Camus, but made no move to pull away from Milo’s warm presence at his back.

“Yeah, but…Ah, you were dead.”

“We both were.”

“But you were dead for a long while. Like, a long time.”

“Uhuh, so?”

“And all the while you were dead, I kept wondering… About a lot of thing. Just a lot of thinking and thinking.”

“Hmmm, doesn’t sound like you,” said Camus, a slight smile pulling at the edges of his lips, even though he tried to stop himself from smiling. But Milo’s presence had always had a calming effect on him for some reason.

“Yeah, and it was hard! So listen to me!”

“I am” 

“Listen carefully, ok? Because it took me a stupidly long time to realize why I was so upset at the fact that you were dead. Why everything seemed darker without you. Why nothing seemed satisfying or meaningful when you were gone,” said Milo, and he reached out again to hold Camus’ hand. “I felt really stupid when I realized it, but I guess in those things I’m dumb like that.”

“What are you-?” started Camus, moving to look at Milo behind him.

“I’m in love with you,” he said. And all around, the world seemed to go silent for Camus. “I was in love with you when you were alive, and I kept being in love with you when you were dead. And even when I thought you were a traitor! Gods, that was awful. I was like, _I love you so much and you come back pulling this shit??_ Hahaha, oh, that was awful. But, you’re back. We’re back. And I needed to tell you that because… who knows? We might all die in an hour or whatever. And that would be shit.”

Milo let go of him and stood up from the bed. 

“I’ll go look out for the poor schmuck who had Hades stuck inside him. Rest well, and don’t be too demanding on that poor kid Hyoga,” he said, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Camu blinked. The piece of his cloth that he was holding in his hands fell from his fingers and clattered on the floor. 

His vision went blurry, and he realized his eyes were full of tears.

But why?

Why was he crying? 

Why was his heart racing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.  
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest subscribing to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	9. Chapter 9

Shura had ended up sleeping between Aphrodite and Deathmask, both of them lying on their side, with their backs turned to Shura.

“Huh, are you guys ok?” he tried asking.

Deathmask scoffed. Aphrodite growled.

“Fine. Go to sleep already,” he said.

“Maybe I should...go to sleep in the living room,” said Shura, sitting up on the bed.

Aphrodite turned and grabbed Shura’s arm.

“I swear if you don’t get in here, I’m punching you in the face,” he said, pulling Shura back down on the bed. 

Shura pulled on Aphrodite’s hair. 

“Well, I just don’t want to get tangled in your issues again,” he muttered through gritted teeth . 

Deathmask turned around to glare at him.

“Oh, so now it was all on us?” he said. 

“Well, a great part of it yeah!” said Shura.

The door opened and the three of them startled. Aioros came in, and they all stopped breathing at the same time, freezing in place.

“Hey guys, could you keep it down? I’m right next door...,” he said scratching at the back of his head. “Oh, you three still sleep together.” 

“N-no! We don’t!” cried Shura. 

“There aren’t enough beds,” said Deathmask.

“Sure, sure. Just keep it quiet. I’m trying to sleep and…well, it’s difficult. Feels a lot like dying. You guys know how it is. Anyway, good night,” he said and went back out.

”Well, that didn’t go very well…,” said Aphrodite, laying down on the bed.

“Shut up,” said Shura. 

“I mean we could…talk with him,” offered Deathmask, also lying back down. 

“And tell him what? Sorry we all murdered you? Sorry none of us believed you when you begged for mercy? Fantastic! Yes! Let’s bring him a cake too!” said Shura. Then he grabbed his pillow and covered his head with it.

He stayed that way for a while. Trying desperately to fall asleep. Then he shifted the pillow to be under his head.

Still no sleep.

He turned around to face Deathmask’s back. He stayed like that for a while, and noticed that he really had turned much skinnier than he used to be. He frowned, and wondered what might have happened to him during their time in Asgard. Because of course you couldn’t become skinnier in death, right? 

Or could you?

He shifted to lie up on his back, staring at the ceiling. But of course their bodies were new. They shouldn’t have changed from the way they had been during their time guarding the Sanctuary. But then again, Aioros had said that he himself was ‘very skinny’. While Shura had never been big, he also didn’t think he was so thin as to merit such a comment.

He huffed, annoyed. Why did Aioros decide to make such a comment back then? It had been so ridiculous, he had been caught completely by surprise. He sighed at the memory of it.

Aphrodite’s hand went to cover Shura’s mouth, holding him so hard, Shura felt his nails digging into his skin.

“That’s enough,” growled Aphrodite, pushing himself up on his arm. “I’ve had it with your bullshit insomnia. All that turning and shifting and huffing and sighing are driving me insane. Come, I’ll make you some tea that will have you sleeping for at least ten hours.”

They both got up from the bed, leaving Deathmask still asleep behind, and padded downstairs towards the kitchen barefooted in their efforts to not wake up anyone.

“Don’t make it too strong,” whispered Shura as they reached the final staircase down. “I just need to relax a little.”

“Hmph. Do you doubt of my herbal medicines?” asked Aphrodite with a smirk on your face.

“Not at all. I know they’re so effective, they might end up having me asleep for a hundred years,” scoffed Shura.

In the living room, someone sitting at the couch moved to look up at him. Shura and Aphrodite were immediately on guard.

“Oh, you guys can’t sleep either?” asked Aioros, letting down a book he had been reading.

Shura and Aphrodite relaxed. Although only a little. Shura walked up to Aioros, while Aphrodite made his way towards the kitchen.

“I’m…a little tense,” said Shura, approaching. As he rounded the couch that Aioros was sitting on, he realized that there was someone else there. 

Aioria had fallen asleep on Aioros’ lap.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I came down here to try and read a bit until I got sleepy. But he came down to find me,” he said with a sheepish smile, while he continued to thread his fingers through his brother’s dark golden curls.

There was a strange sound coming from Aioria that made Shura frown as he looked down at him.

“What is that?” he asked, taking a couple steps closer. It sounded like a purring sound. Aioros struggled not to laugh too loud or move too much. 

“He does that sometimes,” he said, and started scratching behind Aioria’s ears. The purring grew louder. “Isn’t it cute? Gods, I can’t believe I missed more than a decade of this.”

There was a sparkle of sadness to Aioros’ eyes when he said that and looked down at his brother.

Shura’s stomach twisted in a mix of guilt and regret.

Yes, Aioros had missed that and so much more. And why? Who had delivered the final blow to him?

Aphrodite came back, holding a mug in his hands that he handed to Shura.

“If anyone asks about the mess in the kitchen, just lie. Say whatever. Like, a feral cat  attacked and made a mess. I’m not cleaning,” he said. 

Shura rolled his eyes, but smiled nevertheless.

“Is that to help sleep? Can I have some?” asked Aioros, reaching out towards the mug.

Aphrodite shrugged. “A couple sips should be enough for you both,” he said, then he slapped Shura’s arm lightly. “Drink that quick and come back to bed.”

Then he walked back upstairs towards the bedroom.

Shura handed the mug to Aioros, trying to hide the trembling of his hands. He felt like he should say something. Like a torrent of words tried to escape from his chest, but there was so much to say that the words merged one against the other, as diffuse and unintelligible as his thoughts.

Aioros drank from the tea, making a disgusted face, and gave the mug back to Shura. 

“It’s pretty bitter,” he said, trying to not cough.

Shura looked down at the mug in his hands for a moment. The warm scent drifting from it, did smell bitter. The dark liquid inside had touched Aioros’ lips, in the same way that his own teenager self had dreamed of doing so many times.

“I’m sorry,” he said finally, when the words in his through threatened to asphyxiate him. “I should have listened to you. I should have…”

“Don’t cry,” said Aioros, giving him a sad smile. 

Shura blinked, and realized that he was indeed crying. Silent tears falling down his cheeks.

He looked up at Aioros. He looked sad. So sad.

Shura had cut open his heart and placed that sadness in him, he realized.

He shook his head. 

“Sorry,” he whispered, moving away from him. “I just…needed to apologize for that I did. Good night.”

And he walked up towards the bedroom as fast as he could without dropping the mug in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.  
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest subscribing to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	10. Chapter 10

The woman with the ugly suit showed pandora around the mansion, talking about the changes in the renovation of this or that room. Apologizing for going over budget here or there. Pandora barely listened to her explanations as she followed her around, trying to see the changes in the new mansion against the memories that she had of the house of her childhood.

But she quickly grew angry. As much as she tried to picture the original look of the house, memories of different houses came to her mind. Older mansions, with servants dressed in antiquated uniforms. A barrage of memories came to her when she tried to remember just how her childhood had been.

The woman then took her to the garden, which looked barren and ruined. 

“The gardener should be arriving soon, but all the materials have been delivered,” said the woman, looking down at a small notebook she carried with annotations of budgets and timelines. “It should be ready within six to eight weeks.”

Pandora noticed a small chapel in the farthest part of the garden. That place where she had found that cursed box with the twin gods. She couldn’t forget  _ that _ . It still vibrated with dark power.

Enough dark power for her to harness. 

She smirked.

“Stay here,” she ordered the woman, and walked up to the chapel.

It might be easier if she had her trident. But this would have to be enough for now. She needed more forces. More hands at her disposal. On her mind, she went through the entirety of all the garrisons that the judges had at their disposal, thinking through every soldier and general, looking for someone whose soul would be easier to call back. 

The body that Athena had given her was unstable, and brimming with her energy in a way that disgusted Pandora. But that energy also made it easier for her to bring other souls into the physical plane.

She opened the door to the chapel and stepped through. The inside smelled of old dirt and decay. The small light that filtered from the cracks in the ceiling gave the place a haunted look that mimicked the aura of it in Pandora’s memories.

She placed her hands on the small column at the center of the chapel. It thrummed with energy under her fingertips. She settled on the one specter whose will to live and to fight was so strong, bringing him back would take the least of her own energy.

“Valentine,” she called, letting her spirit drift back through the past, calling out to the constellation that contained Valentine’s harpy spirit.

An image of a great winged monster flashed across her mind and she jolted for a moment, but forced herself to keep her hands on the altar, drawing on all the residual dark energy on the chapel and as much of her own as she could spare. She felt herself becoming lighter, the edges of her body becoming diffuse, but she held on, pulling on the energy of those stars.

“Come here. Your powers are needed again,” she said. “Your lord requires of your assistance once more.”

She adjusted her energy to transmit the mental image of Rhadamanthys into the energy of the constellation where Valentine’s soul resided.

She felt Valentine jolt back into awareness. His essence settling into a pattern that mirrored the form that he had taken for so many lives. His energy started falling down towards the earth. The energy of the light from his stars concentrating and taking form.

Pandora smirked and used the remained of the dark energy in the chapel to bind him into a physical body.

Valentine collapsed on the altar. He blinked up at Pandora.

“I have returned,” he said, his voice raspy. “Where is…? Where is master Rhadamanthys?”

Pandora leaned against the altar, trying to keep herself up despite her exhaustion.

“As reliable as ever, Valentine,” she said, half sarcastic, half honest. She then slid down over the floor, unable to keep standing. “But you see…we lost the war. And this time, ah, it’s bad. It’s very bad…”

She felt a heaviness in her chest. As if the weight of the world held her down.

And it did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.  
> Since I do not have a set time for the updates, I would suggest subscribing to this story to receive alerts.
> 
> For updates on my writing and future projects, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> You can also find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	11. Chapter 11

By the time Shura woke up, he found himself alone in bed. He looked around and found a clock hanging on the wall and noticed it was seven in the morning. He groaned. It was later than he usually woke up, but thankfully not too late. He jumped out of bed after a quick shower he ran down the stairs towards the first floor. 

Some of the others were sitting around in the living room and he waved at them, but he didn’t see Aphrodite or Deathmask among the  group . 

Worried that they might have not told him  about  something important, he looked for them in the dining room where Mu and Shaka were setting the table, and then moved to the kitchen. There he found Dohko cooking breakfast with Shiryu helping him cut the ingredients ,  while Aioria sat on the counter and  Aioros along with  Seiya seemed to be…staring at him? Pointing some small device at him? Shura scratched his head.

“Why is Aioria on the counter?” he asked, approaching them.

“He likes to be tall,” said Aioros, giving him a bright smile.

“I’m twenty years old. I’m already tall,” said Aioria, looking embarrassed. His cheeks turned pink.

“You’re staying there and you’re letting me take photos, or there’s no dinner tonight,” said Aioros with a frown. 

Dohko laughed aloud, while Shiryu next to him struggled to stop himself from laughing.

“Ah, kids are so cute,” said Dohko, throwing things that Shura didn’t recognize on to the wok in the stove.They sizzled and the smell made Shura’s stomach rumble. “Shion always said in his letters how you two were so cute. Too bad we didn’t have photos back then.”

Seiya handed the device to Aioros, who glowed with happiness.

“Look, Shura! Look! This thing is great. What did you say this was called?” asked Aioros.

“It’s a cell phone,” said Seiya, smiling. 

Shura approached and saw that there were photos on the device. He looked at Aioria’s embarrassed face in the photo and the way that the morning light fell on him…It was a really beautiful image. He could understand why Aioros wanted to keep it.

“It’s nice,” he said, his lips curling into a slight smile.

Aioria jumped down from the counter. “That’s enough photos for a day, and you stop making fun of me,” he said, pointing at Shura.

Shura’s expression turned into a frown.

“He wasn’t making fun of you,” said Aioros and showed the photo to his brother. “You really do look nice. I knew you would. Seiya, can you get me one of these things? I’ll give you the money.”

Shion came into the kitchen, looking sleepy and tired. He frowned at Dohko.

“What are you doing? The mansion has cooks. Athena’s butler is worried out of his mind,” he said, rubbing at his eyes.

“Did he wake you up?” asked Dohko. “I’ll go beat him up if he did.”

“Stop taking over the kitchen. You always take over the kitchen wherever we go.”

“It’s not my fault that I’m a better cook than anyone else. And I wasn’t going to have some random cooks prepare breakfast today. We had to have dinner at the restaurant yesterday, but today we’re celebrating. It’s celebration morning! Look, I made scallion pancakes. You love those.”

Shion shook his head, a soft smile on his lips. Shura realized that he was smiling the same way that he used to smile down at them when they were little. It was so long ago that he had almost forgotten about it. Shion had stopped smiling that way at some point, but he couldn’t remember exactly when.

The ground shook, and all the windows rattled. Back near the foyer, the entrance to the basement blew up and out flew Rhadamanthys. 

Shura gasped and readied Excalibur, when a golden arrow flew past by the side of his head and hit Rhadamanthys on the shoulder. Another  set of  arrows flew by, but Rhadamanthys dodged them.

Milo jumped forth and used scarlet needle on Rhadamanthys, hitting him on the center of the chest. The judge growled, then laughed.

“Idiots. I know you can’t kill me,” he said with a slight smirk. “How do you hope to defeat me if you can’t fight without restraint?”

A wave of freezing cold emerged from inside the basement, lowering the temperature sharply.

Then, a blizzard shot out from the basement, hitting Rhadamanthys straight and freezing him along with everything in the foyer.

Camus walked out of the basement, every step covering the floor underneath his feet with a thick layer of ice. He held his hand against his chest and had a pained expression in his face.

“Sorry for the disturbance,” he muttered. His step faltered. “They sensed a shift in my physical form and took advantage. I’m fine now.”

He coughed, and the temperature around him dropped even more. Milo ran up to him.

“Fine? You’re not fine!” he said, reaching out to examine his chest, but his fingertips froze when he touched him and he gasped.

Camus stepped away from him.

“Are you alright?!” he asked, and fell down to one knee. 

Hyoga ran up to him. “Master Camus!” he called.

Camus glared at him.

“Don’t come close! Can’t you see?!” he yelled.

“But I can endure the cold, master I-!”

“Get away from me!”

A blizzard swirled around him and hit Hyoga, throwing him away to crash against one of the walls of the living room.

“Camus, try calming down,” said Mu, holding up the crystal wall to protect himself from the worst of the blizzard while trying to approach him. “What exactly are you feeling? Did he do anything to you to get your powers out of control?” 

“I’m not out of control!” said Camus. The ice started crawling from the foyer towards the nearby living room and the rest of the golden saints stepped back, looking at each other in concern.

Shion stepped forward.

“Camus, this is because your thoughts are too disjointed. Concentrate and ground your physical form,” he ordered.

“My thoughts are fine,” muttered Camus, wrapping his arms around himself, falling down to kneel on the floor.

The temperature dropped further. The ice expanded even further.

“Fine, sure you’re fine. Then prove it,” said Milo with a smirk, and ran to hold Camus. “Either you get a hold of yourself, or you freeze me. How about it?” 

Camus’ pale face lost all color. 

Seeing past the fake bravado of Milo’s smirk, he saw true worry shining in his eyes.

_ “Don’t act like I can’t see right through you.” _

Milo’s words echoed in his mind and he closed his eyes. How deep could Milo see into him? How much could they read each other, after so many years next to one another? He took a deep breath. 

“Idiot,” he whispered, allowing his mind to fall into the cold silence that allowed his cosmos to merge with the ice.

The blizzard around him died down and the temperature rose slightly. 

“Oof, that was close,” said Milo with a laugh. Then he tried to pull away from Camus, and found that they were stuck frozen together. “Err, guys…can any of you help us?”

Shura approached, lifting his extended arm. 

“Don’t move,” he said.

Milo flinched. “No, not you! I’d like to keep my limbs!”

Shura narrowed his eyes at him.

“Do you seriously think I would cut off your arms?” he asked.

“Errr…Well, I think you wouldn’t  _ mind  _ cutting off my arms, I guess,” said Milo, trying to look away from Shura and failing.

“You know what, maybe I  _ should  _ cut off your arms. We can ask Athena to stick them back later,” said Shura with a deadpan tone, lifting an eyebrow at him.

Milo tried to pull away and both he and Camus ended up falling down on the frozen floor.

“Ok, any other volunteers? Anyone, I’m serious!” he cried.

Mu stepped forth and tried to pull Shura away from them. 

“Maybe we should try to taw them first,” he said, trying to placate both of them.

Dohko laughed and looked behind him at Shiryu.

“Go boil some water boy, we’re gonna need it. But, for everyone that’s not frozen, breakfast is read y . Cold, but ready.”

Shion rubbed at his temples. 

“I can’t believe I raised all of them,” he whispered and turned around. He needed food, and he needed food right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But like, let's be real, Shura would definitely NOT mind cutting off anybody's arms. Maybe not Aioros...no, wait, he actually killed Aioros. So, let us not get into that U.U  
> Let's just say, Shura doesn't hesitate in the fulfillment of his duty...even when he should! Hahaha! XD
> 
> And Shion is such a suffering mom! Hold on Shion! Your children love you!...Even if one of them actually murdered you. But let's also not get into that! They'll all bring you lots of gifts for mother's day! XD
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter. If you have enjoyed it, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Or come talk to me on twitter @alexdamien


	12. Chapter 12

Pandora emerged from the chapel a couple hours later, after she had recovered enough energy to be able to stand up on her own. The woman was inside the mansion, putting away Pandora’s luggage.

Or rather, lady Palas’ luggage.

Pandora wondered how long her little charade would last. It would definitely not be long, but she was going to enjoy it for as long as it would.

“Ma’am, should I also put your suitcases away or are you going back to Greece soon?” the woman asked. A loud bell rang all around the house. “Oh, that might be the chef.”

Pandora pursed her lips together, wondering if Valentine had decided to misconstrue her orders. She had told him to appear the next day and pretend that he was her butler. The next day!

“Uhm, that might be my butler,” she said, following the woman outside and down the staircase towards the main door. “He should be arriving between today and tomorrow.”

“Oh, no, it’s the chef. She sent a message,” said the woman. “But I’ll keep an eye out for your butler. His name is…”

“Valentine. He’ll be here soon.”

“Of course. I’ll make sure he has no issue when he arrives,” she said, and opened the double doors of the main entrance.

A woman dressed up in a chef’s uniform stood there. She had short reddish hair and also wore a face mask that covered her mouth and nose. She stepped inside and bowed before Pandora while the woman in the suit closed the door behind her.

“Good day, I’m Mara, the new chef,” she introduced herself.

Pandora rolled her eyes and turned her back on them.

“Good day. You will excuse me, but I am very tired after all the issues during my arrival. I’ll take a nap before dinner,” she said and walked away.

The women at the door saw her leaving, standing at the door in silence until they heard the door to her room opening and closing.

“So, I’m a chef now?” asked Marin, looking at Shaina in amusement. “I like your new hair color, but your stylist did a terrible job.”

Shaina threw up her hands in frustration.

“Yes, you’re a chef. I had to think fast and come up with a plausible story for us both. Is there a problem?” she said as she rolled her eyes and they walked towards the kitchen. 

“Yes. I don’t know how to cook anything.”

“What do you mean you can’t cook anything?” asked Shaina.

Marin shrugged.

“I mean, I can make like, eggs and stuff. I wouldn’t starve, but that woman is going to expect a three course dinner worthy of a rich mansion and that I can’t do.”

Shaina sat down at one of the kitchen chairs. 

“Ok, let’s think…We’ll order something from one of the nearby restaurants and serve it to her. I’ll get the number for the nearest one and place and order. You can pick it up before she wakes up. But we’re gonna have to be more careful when the harpy arrives.”

“The harpy?”

“She summoned Harpy Valentine. Don’t ask me how, she just went into the chapel in the garden and the most horrific dark energy came out. I alerted the sanctuary and was told that the pope was aware of it but like…who’s the pope?” she said, while at the same time texting the restaurant to order dinner.

“There’s no pope…well, there wasn’t when I got out. I got, uhmmm, my orders from Athena. I thought you had also had the dream. I mean, she said you would call me and to do what you said.”

Shaina sighed and leaned back on the chair. 

“Dream? Uhmmm, I didn’t… it wasn’t so much a dream…”

It hadn’t been a dream at all. She had been running towards a higher cliff, looking for a better point of view towards the eclipse, when suddenly everything stopped.

Light started shining again, filtering through the planets as they moved back on their natural orbits.

And then, something strange happened to the world. It suddenly felt to Shaina as if reality itself broke apart, and all around her a heavy presence weighed her down. She heard whispers in the air as if thousands of voices cried out in terror and pain. She looked up again at the sky that looked bright blue yet again, but somehow felt darker to her eyes.

Then, her vision went white, and she saw her goddess. 

She looked like that Saori girl, but her eyes and hair were completely white. All around her burned white flames, the heat of them felt scorching to Shaina.

Athena opened her mouth and her voice seemed to come from everywhere at once.

_ “Find Pandora. Stay by her and inform me of her every move” _ she had ordered.

In her mind’s eyes Shaina then saw Pandora, as clearly as if she was seeing her right before her own eyes. She ran at inhuman speed, crossing through villages and cities and uninhabited lands. There was a yearning in her face, as if she was desperately looking for something.

Shaina saw her arrive at a small village, and then the image moved back away, so that she saw the exact place where she was. 

“Yes, my goddess,” she said when she found herself once more before the divinity.

Athena nodded, and Shaina felt herself falling down through those scorching flames, back into her own body. She opened her eyes and saw she was lying on the ground while the world seemed to have gone back to normal

She pushed herself to stand up again, and realized she suddenly knew that Pandora had ran back to her old childhood village, where her family’s mansion still stood, because Saori had bought it years ago, by the orders of Athena.

She also knew where she could call for Saori Kido’s private jet.

The rest of the plan to get Pandora out of jail thought, she’d had to put that together on her own.

Shaina looked up at Marin. She thought of explaining her whole vision of her, and how the knowledge of all that she needed to fulfill her mission had suddenly simply…appeared in her head, but…it all felt too complicated and she was exhausted.

“It was more like I heard her voice in my head,” she said finally.

Marin nodded. “And she told you to get the worst dye job in history too?” she asked, with an amused glint to her eyes.

Shaina leaned forward, glaring at her.

“Hey! I did it myself! It was my first time dying my hair, so yeah it’s not perfect!” she said. “But I needed a disguise, ok? And you did too, but I guess the mask will be enough.”

Marin lifted an eyebrow at her outburst.

“And Athena told you to wear contacts too?” she said and laughed.

Shaina narrowed her eyes at her.

“Contacts? I’m not wearing any contacts,” she said. “Don’t you remember how I look?”

Marin frowned and walked up to her, lifting her chin to see her face clearer against the light.

“But your eyes weren’t this shade of green, were they? They look…much paler…,” she said.

Shaina stood up and grabbed a polished silver plate from the counter to look at her reflections. 

She blinked a couple times. A pair of pale green eyes blinked back at her. 

She did not know those eyes that seemed to have lost most of their color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohohoho! It was Shaina all along! Pfffhahaha, don't tell me you didn't see it coming? XD Ahhh, I'm so nervous about including her in this fic. It's the first time I'm working with her as a character, and I do not feel confident about portraying her, not at all, but I hope you like it anyway!
> 
> And no, Marin can't cook. Poor Seiya had to learn very quickly just to survive. Marin says that it was to help him build character, and well, she's also not wrong!
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please consider leaving a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Or come talk to the on twitter @alexdamien


	13. Chapter 13

Shun wasn’t sure if he should mention it, considering how many things had happened so quickly, but something had changed inside him. 

Inside his mind, to be more precise. 

If previously he would describe his mind as a sort of black space where memories and thoughts arose and fell as they were needed, now it had turned into something more…defined, to say something. 

Now, when he looked within him, he found himself inside a great black room, with a door that led to several other black rooms that contained memories or thoughts.

“Hades?” he called out to the confines of his inner space.

The god materialized from the shadows lingering at the edge of the room.

“What do you want?” 

“What is…all this?” he asked, motioning to the space around them.

Hades started floating in midair.

“Containment,” he said with a bored expression, crossing his legs. “You did not really expect your little human mind to be able to handle me, did you?”

“Actually, I kind of did,” said Shun.

Hades sighed.

“You know, all things considered, you’re not as bad as my last vessel, so I’m going to ignore your naivet y . Let’s just say that, Athena had to make space inside you for me to fit in. Your memories and thoughts might be a bit scrambled. A bit like mine. She did a shit job of it too, by the way.” 

“Please don’t speak of her like that. It’s rude,” said Shun. 

Hades scoffed. 

The distant sound of explosions echoed in the chambers of Shun’s mind and he stood to alert. 

“What was that?” he asked.

Hades smirked and vanished into the shadows once more. 

“Did you bring me here to distract me? You stop that already. They won’t get past twelve golden saints and your body is gone. The underworld is gone. All you had is gone.” Said Shun.

A dark laughter echoed through the confines of their shared mindspace.

“All I had?” said the God’s voice from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. “Have you vanished death from the world? Have you defeated aging and birthing and growing and dying? I have nothing but I am everything. And I shall never vanish as long as the world exists.” 

Shun clenched his fists.

“...I know.”

He closed his eyes and let himself drift out, back into his body.

And found himself shaken by an iron hold on his shoulders.

“Shun! Shun wake up!” yelled Ikki.

Shun opened his eyes to see his brother above him. The room felt freezing cold.

“W-what happened?” he asked.

“I don’t know. There was an explosion and Shaka went down to see what it was, but you didn’t wake up. What happened to you??”

Shun pushed himself up on the bed and rubbed his head.

“I was talking with Hades. He…uhm, never mind…,” he said, suddenly too tired to explain what was going on in his mind. 

The door opened and Shaka came through, carrying a tray with food. “It was Rhadamanthys but we have him under control now,” he said, setting the tray on the bed. “Here’s breakfast. It’s cold, but most of the first floor is frozen for now.”

“Frozen?” asked Ikki.

“Camus had a…small mishap,” he said, with an amused smile on his lips. “It’s alright now, but we’ll have to defrost the first floor. We might need your help, Ikki.”

The phoenix grunted in vague agreement.

“I’ll give you guys some space, but don’t tell Shion,” said Shaka, and walked out of the room.

“They really seem to respect him,” said Shun, taking a sip of his cold coffee.

“Fear him, more like it,” scoffed Ikki.

Shun tilted his head.

“It feels to me more like how we used to look at Mr. Kido. He was nice, but also scary in a way.”

“I hated that bastard,” muttered Ikki.

Shun reached out to hold his hand.

“Why are you so upset?” he asked.

Ikki returned the hold, caressing Shun’s knuckles with his thumb.

“I guess it’s just because it feels like…Like the battle is not over, but I can’t fight anymore. After all...where’s the enemy? Inside you? Inside us when we die?” said his brother, then he scoffed out a bitter laugh. “I guess I don’t know what to do now. What else is there to fight?”

Shun’s hold on his brother’s hand tightened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fufufu, portraying the interactions between Shun and Ikki has been so challenging! And I didn't expect it to be so. Maybe because I ship them so much, I thought it would be easy? XD This whole fic could be summed up as "I thought it would be easier. And then it wasn't." :P
> 
> But I still hope you liked this chapter. And if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.  
> For updates on my writing, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Or come talk to me on twitter @alexdamien


	14. Chapter 14

Valentine couldn’t wait anymore. He ran out of the chapel as soon as he noticed there was no one around and made his way out of the property and into the town. Pandora had brought him back naked, which was proving to be quite the annoyance, even if she did leave him her coat. 

As he walked through the streets, wearing nothing more than a black woman’s coat, he silently hoped that this would never get to Lord Rhadamanthys’ ears. He leaned against a wall, tired and a bit dizzy. He needed to find something decent to wear and maybe something to eat too. 

He noticed a man getting out of a fancy car and entering a house nearby. He was speaking against some sort of machine. Something in Valentine’s mind said “phone” while another went “what strange magical device is that??” and he spent a few moments trying to figure out what exactly he was even thinking. He felt disperse, as if his mind had separated in different parts that argued against one another. 

He shook his head, and decided to go with his instinct. He needed clothes, and something to eat. That man happened to fulfill both his needs. 

He licked his sharp fangs that had appeared as his unstable physical form slid towards his harpy state.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Valentine strikes me as a very cute character, but I'm so not used to writing him, I still feel pretty unsure when I write his scenes. I think I need more practice.
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please consider leaving a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Or come talk to the on twitter @alexdamien


	15. Chapter 15

It was Aphrodite’s turn to guard Athena. Which meant that it was also Deathmask’s and Shura’s turn to guard  her , since they always did most things together. So the three of them sat at different points of the room around Athena’s body. Shura read a book he’d found in the room, while Deathmask and Aphrodite threw a ball at each other.

“So you’re just going to hide around and never talk to him,” said Aphrodite, throwing the ball. 

Shura sighed and rubbed his eyes. He was starting to get a headache from reading without his glasses.

“Just...until I figure out what I want to say...how I want to say it,” he said.

“You look so funny when you squint like that,” said Deathmask, throwing the ball back.

“I need my glasses, that’s all!” hissed Shura.

The door to the room opened and Tatsumi came in, carrying a tray with a glass and a jug of water.

“What are you all doing here?” he asked and went to set the tray on the bedside table next to the bed.

Aphrodite sighed and ran a hand through his hear.

“I’m guarding Athena today,” he said. 

“Then the others should leave,” said Tatsumi. Shura resumed his reading while Deathmask kept playing with the ball. 

“Why don’t you mind your own business, old man,” said the Cancer saint.

Aphrodite snickered.

“Go do something useful and find new clothes for us. I’ve worn the same thing for two days and it’s driving me crazy,” he said, combing his hair with his fingers. 

“I’m not your servant! I only serve lady Saori, and you are disrespecting her with your attitudes,” complained Tatsumi. 

Shura lifted his eyebrows at that, but didn’t look up from his book.

“You have no idea who you’re talking to. Go away before you regret it,” warned Aphrodite. 

“I won’t leave her alone with you. Capricorn, Cancer and Pisces, I heard about you. You’re some of the bad saints!”

The three fell silent for a moment.

Shura closed his book.

Aphrodite and Deathmask smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me just gush about how much I love the trash trio. I love their interactions, I love how their personalities work together. I love them all so much! Yes, even when they bully others. But especially so when they bully Aioria. I laughed so much when SSA confirmed that they were mean bullies to him because I always knew it in my heart! XD They're the worst and I love them so much!
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please consider leaving a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Or come talk to the on twitter @alexdamien


	16. Chapter 16

After breakfast the five bronze saints took a walk through the garden to get some air.

And, partially, to escape the cold in the house.

Shaka stayed a t a considerable distance away to give them some privacy, which was nice all things considered.

“So you haven’t talked to Camus  yet ?” asked Seiya, who had been forced to stay in a wheelchair by the others.

“No, he hasn’t woken up. But Camus says he just needs to rest. He did seem weird last night. He never shows any emotion, but he seemed worried about something,” said Hyoga.

_ “Maybe he was worried about how you fools nearly destroyed all of creation and the wheels of Karma with your stupidity?” _ said Hades. Shun covered his mouth. “Sorry! Gods, he’s so loud sometimes I can’t keep him down.”

“That’s pretty worrying,” said Shiryu. “Not what he said, just…the fact that he has to stay in you like that. I don’t think it will be a good thing in the long run.”

They heard someone screaming and looked up to the roof of the mansion, where Tatsumi was hanging upside down from a vine around his ankle that shook him up. Above him, standing on the roof where Deathmask, Shura and Aphrodite, laughing at him.

Ikki laughed.

“That’ll teach him” he said.

“No! Brother stop them!” cried Shun.

Hyoga leaned against Seiya’s wheelchair. 

“He really does deserve that. I figured he would piss off the wrong person at some point.”

Shiryu jogged up to them.

“What are you doing?!” he called. “Let him go, that’s cruel!”

The golden saints looked down at him.

“Hey Shiryu! We were just teaching him a lesson in manners. A butler has to be polite,” said Deathmask and cackled.

“Please, just let him go,” asked Shiryu. “I know he can be mean, but don’t be like that. It’s just sinking to his level.”

Shura nodded and kneeled down to reach for the vine. 

“Thank Shiryu for being so forgiving,” he said.

He cut the vine with Excalibur.

Tatsumi fell down to the ground screaming in terror, but Shiryu jumped up and caught him before he could hurt himself. 

Above in the roof, the three laughed at him for a while and then left.

“Those thugs! How can they be allowed near lady Saori like nothing!?” said Tatsumi once he had been able to stand and his heart had stopped racing in his  chest . 

The others caught up with them.

“What did you do to them? I bet you were running your mouth and talking shit,” said Ikki.

“How dare you speak to me like that you-?!”

“What happened?” said Aioros, turning the corner along with Aioria. 

“Ah, some people were teasing Tatsumi,” said Shun. 

“Teasing? Ah, I’ll guess. It was Shura, Deathmask and Aphrodite” 

Aioria scoffed. 

“Those three...they really cause all kinds of trouble all the time,” he said.

“I’ll go talk to them,” said Aioros. 

“Let’s just tell Shion. He’ll deal with them.” 

“No, that would be too much. I’ll just tell them to be nicer.” 

“Then that man, Shion, is the only one who can put them in their place? I’ll tell him!” said Tatsumi. 

“And who am I supposed to put in his place, master Tatsumi?” said Shion, coming out of the house with Mu in tow.

“Those three in lady Saori’s room!” cried the butler.

“Three? Oh, them. What have they been doing now?” he asked, rolling his eyes. 

“They were just scaring him,” said Ikki, then he pointed at Tatsumi. “I bet you were acting all arrogant and nasty to them like you always are! It was time someone stood up to you!” 

“You little bastard!” 

“Enough! Silence!” ordered Shion. “Aioros take care of this. I don’t have time to deal with their games. I’m leaving tonight to make sure we’ll have a suitable prison to hold the judges. Mu and Shaka will be coming with- wait isn’t Shaka supposed to be with you?”

Shun pointed to a treetop a bit away.

“He’s there,” he said.

They all turned to look and saw Shaka meditating on a tree branch, completely unconcerned with anything that had happened.

“What are you doing there? Come here!” called Mu, and Shaka walked up to them.

“I didn’t think my intervention was necessary,” he said.

Shion shook his head.

“Aioria please stay with them. We’ll be leaving shortly,” he said, and they all went back into the house.

“Be careful when you go see them,” said Aioria,  turning towards his brother. 

“It’ll be fine. It’s just that we’re all on edge after everything that happened. We haven’t had a chance to process everything. We’ll all be more calm in a few days,” said his brother. 

“It’s just that they...are different from what you remember.” 

“They killed me. How worse can they be?” laughed Aioros.

“Th-They what? They killed you?!” asked Tatsumi. “So you…you must be the one that Mr. Kido met in Greece that day.”

Aioros nodded. “Yeah, that was…Oh, boy, that was a night. I wouldn’t fight three of us again if I could avoid it. But let’s say it was just…a bunch of bad circumstances and confusions.”

_ “So, it took all three of them to kill you? That explains the ruckus you caused in the underworld” _ said Hades.

“Hi Hades, how are you feeling?” asked Aioros with a bright smile.

_ “I should have fragmented your soul and scattered it into the wheels of karma- _ OH MY GOD, I’M SORRY!-  _ Well it’s the truth! _ ”

Aioros reached out to pat Shun’ hair. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’s kind of a silly thing to think about now, don’t you think? Torturing me for so long in that prison, I bet you thought it was so funny, didn’t you?,” he said, but his smile shifted, his eyes taking on a dark glint. “And now you’re there. How quickly fortune changes even for the powers of the gods. You’ll have all the time to think about that within that human soul.”

Then he turned towards Tatsumi, and the darkness in his eyes had vanished.

“Now, what happened? Did you tell them anything hurtful?” he asked the butler.

“I just let them know that I knew they were the bad saints that had acted against lady Saori,” said Tatsumi.

“Oh, no! You hurt their feelings, that’s why they were bullying you.”

“Tch, they don’t need a reason to bully people,” muttered Aioria.

“I’ll go talk to them. They should be more patient, but I supposed everybody’s been more emotional than usual with all that has happened,” said Aioros, walking into the house.

“I have a bad feeling, but I’m not sure if it’s just Hades messing with me,” said Shun.

Aioria bit his lower lip.

“No, I have a bad feeling too,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aioros is so adorable, thinking the best about everybody *shifty look* or is he??? *dundundunnnn*
> 
> Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please consider leaving a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Or come talk to the on twitter @alexdamien


	17. Chapter 17

Aioros looked around the house for Deathmask, Shura and Aphrodite, but he quickly got lost among the many rooms and wings of the mansion. He ended up going back down to the first floor scratching his head in confusion. That couldn’t be right. He never got lost, much less on a house out of all places.

“Hey Aioros, is something wrong?” asked Mu, standing in the living room near Shaka.

“I can’t find those three,” complained Aioros. 

“Watch out that the waves from Deathmask’s powers don’t confuse you. The ones that connect to yomotsu. I told him to be careful because our powers are so unstable, but-“ 

Shion and Dohko came out of the kitchen. Shion carried a big package in his hands.

“This will be enough for us Dohko. We’ll be there for two or three days at most. This is more than enough food for that,” he said.

“Tch. That’s only for you. I don’t think you’ll leave anything for the kids,” said Dohko.

“Hmph. You haven’t changed,” said Shion, and walked up to Mu and Shaka. Then he nodded.

A whistle echoed around them, and then they vanished. 

Dohko clapped his hands. 

“Well, that’s it” he said and turned towards Aioros. “Let’s get the others and start the celebrations! You kid, you’ll be in charge of the booze. I’ve heard tequila is good. You should get some of it.”

“Uh?”

“Are you seriously gonna have a party now?” asked a cold voice behind Aioros. He turned around to find Camus wearing a long white nightgown.

“Hey Camus, why are you wearing a dress?” asked Aioros.

Camus huffed and rolled his eyes. “I woke up like this…”

Dohko laughed. “Well your clothes were all wet when we defrosted you and that was all the clothes we could find.”

Camus shook his head. “If you’re looking for those three, I’ll change guards with them. I could use the silence and I don’t want to go to any parties right now,” he said, turning his back on them.

“Are you sure?” asked Aioros with a sad smile. “Maybe having a good time with the others would help warm you up.”

“I’m fine!” yelled Camus, and the air around him turned ice cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to: alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Otherwise, you can find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	18. Chapter 18

The party took no time to assemble. Milo and Deathmask got the bronze saints to work the music player, Dohko cooked up some snacks, and Aioros managed to find some bottles of different alcohols that he didn’t even recognize.

“Did you seriously put together a party?” asked Aioria to his brother, coming into the house with Tatsumi in tow.

Aioros gave him a sheepish smile and held up a couple wine bottles.

“Uhm, I’m supposed to be in charge of getting tequila, but I’m not sure what that is,” he said.

“I think there is some in the smaller storage room,” said Tatsumi with a sigh, turning towards the room.

“I’ll go get it for you,” called back Aioria. “You stay there.”

“He seems so naïve and childish,” said Tatsumi, opening the door to the storage room. On a shelve there were some dusty bottles. He took a handkerchief out of the inner pocket of his blazer and cleaned them before handing them to Aioria. “I can hardly believe that he was that determined young man who saved lady Saori.”

Aioria took the bottle and stared at it for a moment, then took a deep breath.

“Mister Tatsumi…Please keep in mind that our resurrections have been very hard on us, and you don’t know much of what has happened.  According to our code of honor I won’t get mad, but please know th at I will not tolerate you speaking ill of my brother,” he said, then turned towards the door. “And he…he was fourteen when he died.”

Tatsumi scoffed.

“You’re so much like that brat Ikki,” he said.

“Uh?”

“Is he as strong as you?”

Aioria smiled.

“Much stronger. He will inherit my cloth.”

“Hmph…Good. That’s…good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to: alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Otherwise, you can find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	19. Chapter 19

The party really got going once Milo figured out how the music player worked, and they all discovered that he actually had a great taste in music. 

Granted, his taste in music encompassed mostly seventies disco music, but that was fine by everyone.

“Great news!” called Aphrodite, running down the stairs in a long white dress. “I found the room with the extra clothes!”

Tatsumi paled for a moment, then remembered how they had hung him upside down from the roof, and decided that for some battles, you simply had to let it all go. 

He took a glass of whiskey and went back to his room.

“Milo, put something good for dancing!” demanded Aphrodite.

“This is all dancing music!” said Milo, holding up Seiya’s phone. “The interwebs said it!”

Aphrodite rolled his eyes. 

“Shura do something,” he said.

Shura stood up from his seat in the corner and went up to Milo. The disco music died off, and was replaced by the notes of tango. Aphrodite pulled at Shura’s arm.

“I missed dancing the most, when we were dead…,” whispered Aphrodite, while Shura slid his hands around him, fingertips ghosting over his waist, and they moved to the center of the living room.

“Really? Out of everything?” asked Shura, a tender smile  on his lips. His eyes reflected a nostalgic light that Aioros had never seen in his face.

“Hmmh? They’re going to dance? What is that music?” he asked Deathmask, who sat next to him and had decided to forego any mixers and fill his glass with whiskey.

“It’s tango. Shura learned it when he was in Spain I think. From some Argentinian dude or so. I could never learn,” he said.

Aioros’ attention was grabbed again when Aphrodite spun around, guided by Shura. The dress a swirl of white around him.

“Oh, but dancing summed up so many things I loved about life,” said Aphrodite pressing flush against Shura, then bending back, so low the cascade of his hair touched the floor, the pale blue curls shaking like the foam of the sea.

Yet Aioros’ eyes were drawn back again to that soft emotion in Shura’s eyes when he looked down at Aphrodite.

“There might…,” said Shura, pulling his dance partner up. His hand travelling down to the small of his back. The other sliding to his waist. Turning him this and that side as the dress whirled, floating like a cloud around Aphrodite. “Be quite a bit of truth in that.”

Aphrodite laughed, moving in Shura’s decisive arms, spinning, ebbing and flowing, a perfect copy of the foam of the sea from which the real Aphrodite had emerged.

And between them, that feeling of nostalgia for a past they had spent together. For the years where they had taught each other the movement of their bodies. The flow of their steps. The years learning and discovering the way they fit together as they turned and slid against one another.

Time.

Time bound them together. Years of it.

Aioros left his glass on the small table next to the couch and stood up. 

“I think the alcohol is not sitting well with me,” he lied, feeling the burning of hatred rise up yet again in his stomach. “I’ll go get some air.” 

He walked to the  outdoor  garden, beyond the great windows that showed the party still inside. The air outside felt much colder than he had expected and it made him smile. It snapped him awake, and he felt the hatred cooling inside him.

“Are you ok?” said a deep voice behind him. 

Aioros laughed. 

Inside him, the hatred flared up again. 

“Yes, thank you,” he said, turning around to face Saga.

The other looked at him with concern for a moment. Then he looked down at the empty glass in his hand. 

“Aioros…What I did…,” started Saga and faltered for words.

“It’s been hard, uh? Even after death, all you had to endure…,” said Aioros, musing on it and also on himself. He found that he had…far more compassion for himself than for Saga, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“I…I wanted to apologize. That darkness in me…while it played a part. I still let it in. Back then I was…”

“Jealous?”

Saga flinched.

“Aioros…”

“It’s a difficult emotion. So poisonous.”

“I wish there was something I could do. To make it up to you.”

Aioros scoffed out a laugh. Then opened his mouth to say something, but he looked at Saga again, and couldn’t help but laugh.

“But there’s nothing that can be done. Don’t be silly. Look, everybody’s so different. Everybody has grown up. How was it to grow up Saga? I spent so long in that underworld prison with that same body I died with, and now…I can’t believe I fought off a god with this,” he said motioning at himself and his new adult body. “It’s so weird. Ah, I’m so mad. Even when Hades told me you’d died…I still felt like I hated you so much. And he knew it. He really did. He showed me the battles when he resurrected you. That was the worst. Out of everything he did to me, that was what broke me. Seeing Athena die, seeing you carry her head…I don’t remember much about anything then. I broke the prison apart. By the time I got out I ran into Shion and he guided me to where your souls gathered.”

He paused for a moment to take a deep breath and laugh again.

“Ah, when he explained it all… that was hope and that felt so good after hating for so long,” he said. His lips still smiled, but the darkness in his eyes sent shivers of terror down Saga’s  spine . “I hated and hated, and now I don’t know what to do with all this hatred. What do I do now Saga? What to do with this body and with this brother whose face I barely recognize?

The glass in Saga’s hand cracked.

“Aioros, I’m so sorry…”

“I guess I know how you felt back then. Because I’m jealous of you now. Hmmm, I really want to know. How did it feel to grow up, Saga? Did you see your brother grow up?” he asked, stepping towards Saga, cornering him against a pillar. “How does having memories of your life feel like? How does a heart feel like, when it’s not filled with hatred?”

Shura stepped between them.

“Please, this is not the moment,” he said. “We are all just…getting used to life again.”

“Shura…he…you don’t understand.”

“I understand that you want to be free from your pain. That you want to let it all go. I don’t know how to find release, but…”

Saga crushed the glass in his hands.

“I never saw my brother grow up,” he muttered, tears falling down his face. “The darkness made me betray him too.”

Aioros lifted an eyebrow at that, and all pretense of amusement left his face.

“Isn’t your suffering always so terrible? Isn’t it always much more terrible that anyone else’s?” he hissed, his voice as cold as Camus’ ice.

Kanon stepped out into the garden and walked up to them, feeling the tension between them. Saga didn’t even look at him, staring at Aioros with rage burning in his eyes.

“Aioros that hatred…it has rotten you from the inside.”

“It did!” laughed Aioros. “It really did! Shall I give it back to you?!”

Shura grabbed at Aioros. Kanon pulled at his brother’s arm.

“Stop! Please!” cried Shura, pulling him away. “Don’t say something like that.”

“Come on Saga. Let’s leave,” said Kanon, and clasped Saga’s hands. “Look, you’re bleeding. Come, let’s go.”

Saga followed him inside and Shura only let go of Aioros once they were gone.

“It’s not true,” he said. “Your hatred…it did not change you.”

“Shura…,” whispered Aioros, passing a hand through his hair to try  to calm down, but his heart still raced.

“I know it. Because ha te  has dwelt inside me too…we were just…wrong. That’s all.”

“You would not say that if you could see inside my heart.”

Shura shook his head. “I don’t need to. I’ve seen your actions. And out of all of us you never strayed. That night, when we all thought you were a traitor, I thought that the idea I had of you had been a lie. That you had been nothing more than an ideal in my mind. And I swore that unlike you, I would not stray. That the you I believed in, would live on through my devotion and my loyalty,” he said, and leaned against a nearby garden chair, suddenly drained of all his strength. “But you were the one in the right. And all your hatred is justified, but it has not changed you. Not at all. You are still, now more than ever, that ideal in my mind…Sorry, I think…I think I’m drunk…”

He  got up  from the chair and turned towards the door, stumbling forward under the weight of alcohol and worry and shame; his heart beating so hard in his chest that it was painful.

Aioros pulled him back.

“No! Wait! I need to tell you-!” said Aioros.

Shura stumbled back, tripped over Aioros’ feet, and fell over him, both of them tumbling down to the ground. 

He felt the world tilt around him, as if everything around them had fallen upside down. 

“Ugh, sorry Aioros. I really am too drunk,” said Shura, and noticed something strange in his voice. He rubbed at his neck. It felt different somehow. He rubbed at his eyes.

“Are you ok?” asked Aioros underneath him, and Shura realized he was sitting astride him.

He opened his eyes and looked down at him.

His own face stared back at him.

He blinked.

“Oh, I look funny like that,” said Aioros, wearing Shura’s face.

Shura screamed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhohohoho! Body exchange! One of my favorite tropes! Things get exciting! XD
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to: alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Otherwise, you can find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	20. Chapter 20

Kanon brought Saga up to their room and sat him in the small couch there. Then he brought some clean cloths, bandages and water from the bathroom. He started cleaning the cuts in Saga’s hands carefully, making sure he had gotten out all the glass shards. 

Saga said nothing.

Kanon sighed. “It’s ok, just cry already. It’s awful to feel all that bottled up,” he said, and finished cleaning the wounds. Then he moved to bandage the cuts.

Tears fell over Saga’s hands.

“But don’t cry over the wounds! I’m not done bandaging them!” said Kanon and rolled his eyes.

“So you can still feel what I feel?” asked Saga with a choked voice.

Kanon shrugged.

“Can’t you?” he asked.

“I…try not to,” said Saga, and wiped at his eyes with his forearm. “I guess... it’s weird. I did feel it a bit when we came back, but it’s…to similar to how it felt with that- the- uhmmm...” 

“The darkness?” said Kanon, as he finished bandaging Saga’s hands. 

“Yeah.” 

A few moments passed by in silence before Kanon spoke.

“It’s ok,” he whispered. 

“I’m sorry…,” said Saga, shaking his head. 

“I know,” said Kanon, and moved to stand up from the couch.

Tears fell down Saga’s eyes again. 

“No you don’t! You and Aioros, you both hate me!” he cried out.

“I don’t,” said Kanon, moving to stand next to him. He sighed and then passed a hand through his brother’s hair, caressing the soft locks. “If you opened up and stopped keeping me away, you would feel that I don’t. And I’m pretty sure Aioros doesn’t either. I think he’s just saying stuff he doesn’t even know about.” 

“Then why…do I still feel like you do?” 

“Saga what do you want forgiveness to be like?” asked Kanon in a whisper, sitting back down next to him. He wiped some of the tears away from his cheek and pulled him closer, to let Saga’s head fall against his shoulder. “As much as we don’t hate you, we can’t stop you from hating yourself.”

Saga curled against his brother, and kept crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Precious brothers are precious <3
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to: alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Otherwise, you can find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	21. Chapter 21

They had exchanged bodies. Because of course they did. Their souls and bodies were very unstable, so it was not unthinkable that their souls would have ended up in the wrong bodies during their tumbling down to the ground.

Or at least, that was what Dohko believed.

“We’ll leave out the fact that we had been drinking,” said the old master, pacing in front of both of them as they sat in the couch of the living room. “And we’ll let Shion know about this only when he comes back. No sense worrying him now. After all, you two are otherwise alright…Right?”

They both gave tentative nods.

Yes, they were unharmed. In the wrong bodies, but otherwise…everything felt more or less normal? 

Shura lowered his eyes in embarrassment, and ended up staring straight down at Aioros’ ample chest. He looked up instead.

“I feel a bit awkward, but yeah, everything seems fine,” said Aioros, lifting up his arms in front of him. Then he rubbed them, feeling the muscles.

“W-what are you doing?” cried Shura, scandalized at the thought of Aioros feeling up his body.

“Uh, just looking for excalibur. Like, what if I cut myself?”

“Excalibur doesn’t work like that!”

Dohko clapped. “Enough, enough. You two go to bed now. It’s been enough excitement for a night.

They stood up and went up to their rooms, but as they got close to them, they realized there was a problem.

Aioria had gone to sleep before the two of them had dared to go back inside to ask for help from master Dohko. And since there was only one bed in the room, the brothers had been sleeping together. But what would he think if he woke up in the morning to find that Shura was sleeping next to him?

“We could say that we were so drunk, we confused the rooms?” offered Shura and couldn’t help but flinch hearing Aioros’ voice when he spoke.

“I don’t like to lie to Aioria,” said Aioros, frowning.

Shura noticed that there was a tinge of sadness in him that seemed strange  on his face. He found that Aioros’ emotions seemed clearer when shown on his own face.

“Well, we can just explain everything to him in the morning,” said Shura. “Deathmask and Aphrodite won’t mind.”

“I hope they’re already asleep,” whispered Aioros, stopping before the door.

Shura shrugged. “Probably,” he said, scratching at the back of his head. He felt very, very uncomfortable  with the whole situation.

“Rest well,” whispered Aioros, smiling at him in a way that illuminated Shura’s face  like  had never seen.

Shura nodded and kept walking towards the brother’s room.

“You too, you too,” he said as he left.

He could not remember a time when he had smiled in a way that brightened his face like that. Seeing Aioros’ expressions reflected in his own face made him feel acutely aware of the darkness that had filled him for so many years.

As he opened the door to the room, Shura thought that perhaps Aioros, bright and pure as he was, felt the darkness of hate as more pressing and painful than it was. Far more hurtful than he who had had to live with it for decades.

Aioria purred in his sleep, and laid spread out all over the bed like a child, his form outlined by the moonlight filtering through the window.

Shura frowned down at him, looking for a way to get into the bed without disturbing him. It did not help that it was a single twin sized bed, already too small for two people. He shook his head and turned to look for a blanket, resigned to spend the night in one of the living room couches.

Aioria shifted.

“Hmm? Aioros? Is the party over?” he asked, his voice drowsy as he scooted to the side of the bed, making space for him.

Shura whispered an affirmation and sat down on the edge of the bed to take off his boots. He looked around for a pajama but didn’t see anything, so he just took off his shirt and laid down as far away from Aioria as he could.

Soon he heard light purring from Aioria’s side of the bed and he could relax a bit. He turned around to look at him. That sleepy face illuminated by the soft glow of the waning moon made him sad. Ever since he had murdered Aioros, he had always felt a suffocating sadness whenever he looked at his brother.

A sadness that had turned to anger with the passing of the years. A reminder of Aioros’ betrayal. A reminder of the crumbling of everything that he had believed in an idealized. 

Memories floated through his mind as he felt himself drifting off to sleep. All the times he had been excessively hard on Aioria. All the times when he stood silently by while Aphrodite and Deathmask while they taunted and bullied him.

Always thinking that it was right. 

_ ‘Remember. We will not stray like he did. We will be unmoving in our loyalty. Inflexible’ _

Those had been his thoughts back then. He felt the nausea of shame rise up his throat.

Like Saga, Shura would never be able to make up for all that he had done. But unlike Saga, he was willing to go on for the rest of his life bearing the consequences of his sin, and expecting no forgiveness. A life of pain and regret, he had already resigned himself to it decades ago.

It still hurt to think about it though.

Aioria’s eyes fluttered open. 

“Uh? Is something the matter?” he asked. “You can’t sleep?”

Panicked, Shura shook his head and turned his back  to him.

Aioria pushed himself up and grabbed his shoulder.

“Why do you look so upset? Did something happen? How long have I been asleep? Aioros? Aioros?”

Shura gritted his teeth, knowing the whole plan had just gone down the drain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to: alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Otherwise, you can find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	22. Chapter 22

Deathmask and Aphrodite had not gone to sleep. Aioros realized that he should have expected it, since they had still been in the living room when he and Shura came back inside.

“Hey,” he said, giving them his usual smile.

Both of them flinched and he pouted at their reactions.

“Sorry, he just…never smiles like that,” said Aphrodite, scooting over the bed to lay down right next to Deathmask. “It looks a bit…weird on his face, that’s all.”

“Yeah, it kinda does,” said Aioros, walking up to the edge of the bed to sit down and remove his shoes. “Does Shura wear anything to sleep?”

“Uh, sometimes, but we don’t have any bed clothes right now,” said Deathmask.

Aioros started taking off his shirt.

“That’s ok,” he said.

Aphrodite pulled the shirt back down.

“But you know, it’s fine if you sleep clothed. We wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable,” he said, giving him a forced smile.

Aioros kept himself from rolling his eyes and laid down to sleep as he was. The others huddled one against the other at the far end of the joined beds.

Aioros let his eyes fall shut, and his breathing fall into a regular pattern. 

His remade body had felt foreign and unnatural from the very first moment, and being now inside Shura’s made those feelings increase exponentially.

Not a painful feeling per se, just this constant discomfort all the time, no matter what he did. Like wearing tight, itchy clothes that could never be taken off.

“Is he asleep?” asked Deathmask in a whisper.

“I think so,” answered Aphrodite in an even softer whisper.

“I’m just gonna go sleep in a sofa or wherever,” said Deathmask, moving to get off the bed.

Aioros opened his  eyes  and sat up.

“No, I’ll leave,” he said, realizing that it really had been a silly idea in the first place.

“Sorry, no, it’s not you, it’s just…,” started Aphrodite, but Aioros shook his head.

“No, I feel uncomfortable too,” he said, putting his shoes back on and walked to the door. He stopped before reaching it and turned towards them. “Back then. When you killed me…Did you really believe that I was a traitor?” 

Both of them fell silent for a moment, their eyes lowered, before Deathmask looked up.

“Shion said so…I mean, we thought…at first we thought it was Shion,” he said.

“I see…”

The door opened and Shura came in, quickly scurrying to the bed. After him came Aioria.

“What? What is this?” he asked.

Aioros took a deep breath.

“We should have known it wouldn’t work,” he said with a laugh. The whole situation was getting so ridiculous, it was funny. “Go back to bed Aioria. I’ll explain everything. Good night guys…Wait! I just remembered that I had to scold you!”

Aioros went to the foot of the bed.

“Stop being mean to the butler,” he said.

The three of them rolled their eyes at him and groaned.

“I thought it was something important,” said Deathmask, falling back down on the bed.

“I’m serious. I know he said mean things and he hurt your feelings, but you’re not children anymore to go around behaving like that. I’ll have to punish you if you keep that up, for real, so behave,” he said. “Even if he’s rude. We’re guests here, so endure it and keep the peace, alright?”

He walked out of the room, leaving behind him a confused silence.

“Who else felt like  he’s  ten years old again?” asked Aphrodite. “Shura don’t ever have children. You look so weird lecturing people. Like, seriously weird.”

Shura laid down on the bed and covered his head with the pillow.


	23. Chapter 23

Ikki woke up before dawn, despite the fact that they’d all gone to bed fairly late. But the training of years couldn’t be broken so easily. He looked over to Milo who was draped over the nearby sofa in a very uncomfortable looking way.

Next to him in the tiny twin bed, Shun stirred.

“Already awake?” asked his brother,  clinging to Ikki’s arm.

“Can’t sleep in late,” he said. “I’m getting up. You stay in bed.”

Shun shook his head. “No, I can’t keep sleeping either. Too used to getting up early. Do you think the others are awake already?”

Ikki stood up. “At least the goldies aren’t,” he said, pointing at Milo.

Shun covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing.

“I’m going to take a shower. What do you want to have for breakfast?” asked Ikki, padding to the bathroom.

_ “The souls of the innocent,”  _ said Hades.

Shun shuddered, and his hair changed back. “Uh, anything is fine. Maybe a bagel if there are any?  _ ‘No, I want to devour souls’  _ …Actually, two bagels if we have them.”

Ikki rolled his eyes and walked to the bathroom.

“I want one too,” said Milo, stirring.

“Uh, I thought you would be trashed,” scoffed Ikki.

“Don’t be silly. Just because you defeated us, don’t underestimate us so much. Oh, and make some for Camus. I’ll check on him for a moment.”

Ikki rubbed at his temple. He could feel a headache coming.

* * *

After a quick shower, Shun jogged downstairs towards the kitchen.

_ ‘I’m hungry,’ _ said Hades inside Shun’s mind.

A delicious smell drifted from the kitchen.

“We didn’t have any bagels,” said Ikki, seeing him come into the kitchen. “I figured I could make fried rice with some of the leftovers. Master Dohko really took over the whole kitchen…”

“That’s nic- ‘ _ I hate rice. I want us to eat something else’ _ ,” Shun rubbed at his face until his hair changed back. “No. No, stop that, you’ll hurt his feelings.  _ ‘Well Ikki can suck our dick’  _ NOOOO! It’s not ‘our’!! Why did you have to say it so loud?! Where did you even learn that?!”

Ikki looked down at the spatula in his hand and considered stabbing himself with it. He instead finished serving two plates and brought them to the kitchen table.

“You bastard,” he muttered, seeing that the tips of Shun’s hair were still black. How are you even a god anyway?” There’s nothing godlike about you.”

The black spread forth, and even Shun’s eyes lost their color. 

Hades smirked at him.

“That phoenix armor has made you arrogant. You see only an echo of my powers, tinged by your brother’s rage and fear and all those silly human emotions. But once your body wears out and death ends you. When your soul drifts lost and alone, having lost everything. Then you will see what I am.”

Ikki pushed the plate towards him.

“I guess. But now you’re shutting up and eating your rice.”

Ikki sat down across from him and saw how the darkness of Hades retreated, Shun blinking again as he emerged. 

“Sorry…,” he whispered.

“Don’t apologize. He’s an asshole. Just ignore him.”

Shun brightened up and started eating, but Ikki found that he had lost his appetite.

He looked at Shun and Hades’ words echoed in his head. He realized that no matter how much he fought, or how powerful he was, there would still be no defeating him in the end. 

After all, he was right. Where would his soul drift off, once his body finally wore out? 

In the end, everybody would lose everything.

He wondered, what would his soul call out for then?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the late update! I've been pretty busy with work and a lot of stuff. I'm also focusing on finishing writing this as fast as possible so @.@ lots going on
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please consider leaving kudos or a comment. It would mean a lot to me.
> 
> For updates on my writing, go to: alexdamien.wordpress.com  
> Otherwise, you can find me on twitter as @alexdamien


	24. Chapter 24

Some of the memories unlocked in Valentine’s head weren’t that annoying. Especially if he kept a good track of where he was and could separate the memories of where he had been. If he could keep that straight, they could even be useful.

For example, he now had access to lifetimes of valet training, and he could set the table and arrange the plates perfectly without hesitation. Service in a household, he remembered now, was second instinct for him.

He pulled out the silverware to be used for dinner while behind him the cook set fire to yet another dish that would have to be thrown out. The other servant came inside with a package of what Valentine hoped would be a precooked dinner from one of the restaurants. He didn’t want lady Pandora’s dinner to be ruined. As much as he didn’t care as much as if he was serving lord Rhadamanthys, it was still a matter of pride for him to provide perfect service.

He gave a long, deep sigh.

“I know you’re lying,” he said, not bothering to look at them and just taking some napkins from one of the drawers.

The two women froze in place. 

“Uh? W-what?” asked the one with the terrible dye job in her hair. 

“You don’t have proper homecare training,” said Valentine. 

“Ahhh, hahaha, ah you got me,” said Shila. “I’m just a contractor. We really don’t have much more budget for properly trained people, please don’t tell lady Palas” 

Valentine gave yet another long suffering sigh. 

“Fine, just try to do the best you can, and hire properly trained people as soon as possible,” he said.

Shila * nodded “I will! I will! Please keep this a secret,” she asked.

Valentine nodded and started folding the napkins to put them in the silver holders and bring them to the table. He found a contentment in putting everything in the proper order. In making sure all details were taken care of ,  It made him feel like he could put  some order in the mess of memories and lives swirling around his head.

He took the silverware and the napkins to the dinning hall and set down everything correctly. He then went to pull the curtains  open . Outside, the green of the garden sprawled away until it merged with the forest. All that green set off even more memories through his head.

He felt himself brought back to that first life he’d had, when his soul had been pure and new. When he had been able to go serve Lord Rhadamanthys with the human form that Lord Hades had bestowed upon him. They had both been so young back then, in body and soul. A bright power so much like that of the god Zeus had sparked in Lord Rhadamanthys’ eyes, and he…he had been so new to humanity. So new, that he could sometimes still hear the roar of his father Typhoon in the distance.

_ “You…who are you?”  _ Lord Rhadamanthys had asked him back then, with a youthful voice that had set Valentine’s new heart racing.

He had opened his mouth to reply, but only a harsh chirping had come out and he snapped his mouth closed, covering it with his hands.

Lord Rhadamanthys had laughed.

_ “What is this? Have you been blessed or cursed by the gods?”  _ he had asked, amused at him.

Valentine looked down and did not answer. Blessed or cursed by Lord Hades? That was yet to be seen, and he didn’t not want to tell how it had been that he had been given this human form. 

After all, betting against the gods was a dangerous game to play.

Valentine shook his head and finished pulling the curtains open, tying them up with a perfect bow.

Lady Pandora came into the hall with decisive steps. 

“Valentine, get the car, we’re going to the city,” she declared. “I finally located my trident.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry for no update last friday. I thought I would be able to finish the fic and go straight into daily posting, but many things happened and I couldn't.  
> I hope I can soon post more often. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy this.


	25. Chapter 25

Showering was turning out to be Shura’s worst nightmare and hottest dream at the same time, and as he felt the hot water over him, he wondered if he would go insane from the clash of emotions inside him.

He washed his hair carefully, taking his time with it, and noticed he had forgotten to take off the red ribbon that Aioros wore around his forehead. He stared at it and decided to give it a quick wash since he had already gotten it wet. He left it hanging from a hook in the shower and grabbed the soap, then looked down at Aioros’ body, which was now in his possession. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and summoned all of his self control.

After all, would Aioros be able to access his memories of the time Shura spent with his body? Would he be able to tell if Shura pleasured himself with it.

The terror of Aioros finding out kept him focused on the task at hand, and Shura finished washing himself in record time.

He came out of the bathroom and looked for some of the new clothes he’d gotten from the pile that they’d found the other day. There were some decent pants, but there hadn’t been much to choose from for tops. He’d found a sweatshirt that he hoped would fit him but now he was starting to realize it was too small. 

He picked up the pants and sweatshirt and stood before the mirror, holding the clothes in front of himself.

Aioros’ face stared back at him from the mirror, with a serious and harsh expression that seemed completely out of place in the usually jovial face.

Shura sighed and threw the sweatshirt back on the bed. It really was too narrow for Aioros’ broad shoulders and strong muscles. He held up the pants over his hips. They might fit, but then…he was too afraid to take off the towel around his hips!

“Oh, Gods, why me?” he lamented, passing a hand through Aioros’ hair, tousling the curls. Seeing the reflection in the mirror he thought it was such an adorable look, his heart gave a pang of longing. 

Maybe…Aioros wouldn’t remember anything when he came back into his body…Shura just had to make sure there were no marks left. He could…maybe…just feel him up a little…?

He slipped his hand under the towel, feeling how his cock was growing hard. His other hand went up to feel one of his pecs, and he gasped at how hard the planes of Aioros’ body were. A dream and a nightmare indeed.

The door to the room opened, and Aphrodite and Deathmask stumbled inside, bickering about something. Their eyes then went up to Shura in front of the mirror and they smirked.

“Oy, you’re already having fun with that?” asked Aphrodite, closing the door behind them. “You wasted no time!”

Deathmask walked up to him and surrounded him with his arms, his hands going up to feel Aioros’ pecs. 

“He’s bigger than he looks like with clothes on,” he laughed.

“Stop that! Don’t touch him!” said Shura, but his face was already red from having been caught with his hands on the cookie jar, so to speak.

Aphrodite sneaked up in front of him.

“You’re so selfish Shura! We’ve shared our bed so many times, but now you won’t share him?”

“I…I wasn’t doing anything…,” lied Shura, stepping away from them.

The other two followed him. Aphrodite reached forward and slipped his slim, pale hand under the towel to wrap his fingers around the hard cock underneath.

“This doesn’t feel like nothing,” he said.

Shura tried to step away from them, but the back of his legs hit the bed and he fell backwards on it. The other two laughed at him. Aphrodite snatched the towel away while Deathmask pushed his legs open.

“Come on, let’s play,” the cancer saint said, snickering.

Aphrodite held Shura’s wrists down on the bed.

“It’s been so long since we’ve played!” he said.

“This body isn’t even mine!” complained Shura, but his resolve was crumbling. He really wanted to do it and he was terribly hard, but having sex with Deathmask and Aphrodite, and while using Aioros’ body somehow felt like a double betrayal of his feelings for him. 

“Well, he’s pretty thick. I think you’ll like it when you can get him,” said Deathmask, pumping on Aioros’ cock. Shura bit his lower lip to stop himself from whining in pleasure. Somehow, Aphrodite and Deathmask had always known how to get him too hot to resist their advances.

“And look at this,” said Aphrodite, placing his hands on Aioros’ chest, caressing the hard pectorals. “I wanna come on these.”

“Wait! No! I’m serious!” cried Shura, desperate at the feeling that he was nearing the end of his self control. He really wanted it now. The image of Aphrodite’s dick rubbing over Aioros’ chest while Deathmask fucked him was way too tempting. In his mind he also saw himself, thrusting his cock into Aioros’ mouth. He shook his head to put his thoughts in order. “Stop, please!”

The door slammed open and Aioros walked inside.

“He said to stop!” he yelled, a furious look on his face. 

Aphrodite and Deathmask jumped away from Shura.

“A-Aioros! We were just joking!” said Aphrodite, backing away towards the window.

“Y-Yeah! It was all a joke, of course! We were just messing with Shura!”

Aphrodite opened the window and jumped out. Deathmask followed after him.

Shura panted for breath, and realized he was lying naked and hard on the bed. He looked around, trying to find the towel or the pants, or anything he could use to cover himself. He felt his face going completely red.

“T-They’re  only playing,” he stuttered.

Aioros closed the door and walked up to him.

“Really? You sounded worried, that’s why I came in,” said Aioros, his expression softening.

“No, no, I’m fine. Just… you know how they are…,” he stammered, and had just decided to grab a pillow to cover himself when Aioros stepped in front of him and looked down at the hard cock that was, by all mean, his own. The archer lifted an eyebrow at the sight.

“Well, I’m pretty big. A bit bigger than you,” he said, taking a good look at him.

“What?!” cried Shura. He didn’t think he could feel even more embarrassed, and yet he was! So very much more!

Aioros laughed and stuck out his tongue in a mischievous expression that seemed completely out of place in Shura’s face.

“Sorry~, I woke up hard today and I couldn’t help but see,” he said.

“Ah…yeah, I guess…I guess that’s normal…,” said Shura, feeling like he was trapped in a crazy dream that he couldn’t escape.

Then Aioros reached out. And grabbed a hold of his cock, pumping it a couple times.

“Hmmm, maybe not bigger, just…thicker?” he wondered, examining the cock in his hand.

Shura jolted and fell back on the bed.

“A-Aioros!” cried Shura, but he couldn’t bring himself to push him away. 

“Ah, my face looks so funny like this,” mused Aioros, and pumped him faster, his hand grabbing him harder. “How does it feel?”

Shura moaned, grasping at the bedspread.

“Aioros, what are you doing?” he moaned, gasping for breath.

“So it doesn’t feel good?” asked Aioros, and stopped his movements.

Shura groaned. “No, it does, it…feels so good…,” he panted, already realizing he wasn’t going to resist anything at this point. Not when he wanted it so bad.

“Right? It felt good when I did it with yours too,” said Aioros, pushing open Shura’s legs to settle between them. “And your face looked cute too…”

Shura thought of Aioros jacking off in his body, staring at his face on the mirror, and his eyes rolled back at the mental image. He decided to hell with everything, and he pushed himself up to grab Aioros by the hips and pull him closer, capturing his lips in a desperate kiss. 

Aioros gasped against his lips, and Shura pushed his tongue inside his mouth, tasting him and feeling the heat of it. Aioros melted against him and whimpered when Shura slipped his hands under his shirt to feel the skin inside. The thought that he was tasting and feeling his own body by using Aioros’ made Shura a bit dizzy, so he focused on pulling off Aioros’ shirt and kissing his chest, making his way down towards a nipple and biting on it lightly.

Aioros cried out and bucked against him, rubbing his crotch against Shura’s 

“Ah! That felt good! So good!” he breathed, climbing over Shura’s lap.

Shura’s hands went down to his ass, kneading it and then moving to unbutton his pants and pull them off, throwing them off to the side. Then he pushed Aioros down on the bed and kissed him again.

Aioros opened his mouth to let him in again, and spread his legs open for Shura to settle between them. He was already hard and leaking and Shura wanted nothing more than to push inside him and thrust until he had him screaming in pleasure.

“Shura…you feel so good. Your body feels so good,” moaned Aioros underneath him, his hands going up and down his chest, his legs pulling him closer so that their groins rubbed against each other’s.

Shura felt himself growing harder at the sight of Aioros writhing underneath him. His face of pleasure was so delicious that he couldn’t contain himself and he moved lower, to wrap his lips around his cock.

Aioros cried out in surprise and pleasure at the feeling, and for a minute seemed completely stunned at what Shura was doing. 

Until Shura started sucking on his cock, and then he threw his head back and cried out his name in the hottest way. Aioros tangled his fingers on Shura’s hair, on those brown curls that had seemed so lovely in the mirror, and thrusted into his mouth.

Shura swallowed happily, taking him down to the base and swallowing around him.

“Shura! Shura I’m coming!” cried Aioros, his eyes rolling back in his head.

Now, that was something Shura had wanted to see decades ago, so he sucked harder on his cock, his hands going to the balls and caressing them.

Aioros jolted underneath him once, whimpered, and came inside his mouth. Shura swallowed and pulled away, wiping at his lips. Aioros had fallen back on the bed, legs spread and a blissed expression on his face. Shura’s cock twitched at the sight. He really, really wanted to just lift Aioros’ legs and thrust inside.

He started stroking himself instead, looking to get some relief and wondering what he had just done. What would Aioros think now at the way Shura had jumped on him at the first opportunity?

Aioros looked up at him. “Hmmm, you still…haven’t come,” he said and lifted his legs, showing his entrance. “I’ve heard you can…put it here. You wanna do it?”

Shura blinked, and was at once opening the drawer on the bedside table, looking for what he hoped the other two always had in hand. His eyes landed on a small bottle with a liquid inside, and he gave a quick thanks to his idiot best friends.

“Hmm? You don’t wanna do it?” asked Aioros, his brow furrowing. 

Shura licked his lips and squirted some lube onto his fingers. 

“I do,” he breathed, crawling onto the bed. “But I have to open you first. You need…you need to lie on your stomach.”

Aioros seemed confused for a moment, but moved to lie down as Shura told him to, spreading his legs open.

Shura slipped a finger inside him and Aioros tensed up, grasping at the bedsheet. Shura caressed his thighs, hoping to soothe him to the foreign sensation.

“It will feel good,” he promised.

“I’ve heard it’s good,” whispered Aioros, while Shura inserted another finger and worked him open. “I once saw Rhadamanthys and Valentine doing it. Valentine seemed to enjoy it a lot.”

“W-What?” 

“Oh, Hades sent his judges to torture me from time to time on the beginning, and because I had given them a good thrashing when I died, they enjoyed it. But they grew bored after a while, so then it was just some special guards, and Minos and Aiakos then later didn’t even show up. Rhadamanthys always did, but he sometimes had sex with Valentine instead. They were very loud. Well, Valentine was.”

Shura blinked a few times, and pictured the image of those two having sex in his mind. He quickly shook his head to get rid of it. Torture, then boredom, then sneaking a look at Rhadamanthys having a sex with his lieutenant. Death had been quite the adventure for Aioros, it seemed.

Shura moved closer to him so he could place a soft kiss  upon  Aioros’ shoulder blade. The archer relaxed over the bed, and Shura inserted a third finger inside him.

“So it was bad in there,” whispered Shura against his skin.

“…A bit,” said Aioros, in his usual way of minimizing hardship that Shura had idolized as a child, but that he now realized was so very sad.

Shura kissed him again, and said no more, instead just looked for that place inside him that would show Aioros how good it could be, and kissed a trail down his spine.

Aioros jolted and cried out.

“Ah! What was that?!” he asked, and Shura smirked. He’d found it.

“This is where it feels good,” he said, pushing against the spot again and again, enjoying the cries of pleasure and surprise from Aioros.

“Shura! I think I’m…I’m getting hard again,” said Aioros, his face twisted in pleasure, tongue hanging out.

The swordsman couldn’t stop himself anymore and pulled out his fingers. He grabbed the bottle of lube and used the rest of it to coat his aching cock. He didn’t use that much usually, and often had enough with only two fingers, but he had wanted to make sure Aioros wouldn’t feel any pain now.

The archer looked behind him.

“Don’t stop, please…,” he begged.

Shura grabbed his hips and positioned himself, then pushed inside. Aioros tensed, which made him even tighter. Shura had to bite his lower lip and look away from where he was buried inside him to avoid coming on the spot, but he could barely contain himself. The fantasies of decades had finally come true. In a weird way in which he was fucking himself, but he wasn’t going to get picky considering the circumstances.

He pushed deeper and Aioros groaned. 

“It does…It does feel good,” he said, spreading his legs wider. 

Encouraged, Shura started thrusting in and out of him. The heat and the tightness made him thrust faster, wanting more. 

“Ah, Aioros, I can’t…hold back…,” said Shura, grabbing his hips more firmly, his thrusts growing harder.

“Don’t hold back. It feels great,” moaned Aioros. “It really does. Fuck, Shura, this is great. You’re gonna love it when I do it to you. Go faster, I want more.”

Shura moaned at the mental image of Aioros holding him down just like this and driving into him. Hard. Fast.

He knew he wasn’t gonna last long, so he reached around and started stroking Aioros in time with his trusts, wanting to make him come first. Wanting to hear more of him.

Aioros threw his head back and came with a cry of Shura’s name on him lips. He tightened even more around him and Shura let go, letting his climax wash over him. 

He pulled out and fell down on the bed next to Aioros, his mind a haze of pleasure and contentment.

Aioros turned to lie on his back and gave a pleased sigh. 

“So, this was sex then?” he asked. “Now I see why they were so loud. It was a bit weird, though…”

Shura felt all the blood drain from his face and he sat up.

“W-weird? Why? Did it hurt? Did you not like it?” he asked.

“No. It was great. It’s just that I never imagined getting fucked by myself,” said Aioros, and laughed.

Shura fell back down on the bed. He felt he had just gotten owned by his own lust, but he wasn’t going to complain.


	26. Chapter 26

Milo found Hyoga brooding on the steps of the back porch. 

“Hey kid,” he said, ruffling the blonde’s hair. “Why the long face?”

“Master Camus doesn’t want to let me close. He won’t even let me ask him how he’s feeling now,” he said, pouting. “I don’t understand why he’s so moody lately.” 

Milo pulled him up to stand. 

“Let’s see how that idiot is doing,” he said, and motioned for Hyoga to follow him inside.

They found Camus sitting down next to Athena. He was still wearing the white nightgown since he hadn’t found anything better, but this time he wore pants and boots underneath it.

The temperature in the room felt very cold, and only dropped further when they entered.

“Isn’t it Deathmask’s turn?” asked Milo. 

Camus frowned at them.

“Hyoga get out. And I exchanged guards with him. You get out too. You’ll disturb Athena.” 

Milo rolled his eyes.

“Hyoga why don’t you go get us something to drink?” he asked. “Coffee for your master, chocolate for me.” 

“Don’t” muttered Camus. 

“Chocolate for your master too then,” said Milo, ushering Hyoga towards the door. 

“Don’t” repeated Camus, but with less energy since he saw he wasn’t going to change Milo’s mind. 

“Go get it, good duck,” said Camus, and closed the door after Hyoga. Then he turned, walked back towards Camus and felt his forehead. “Hmmm, not too bad, but you haven’t recovered completely. I’ll go get Deathmask, he keeps skipping guards.”

Camus pulled away from him, but now there was a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks. 

The temperature in the room dropped even more.

“I’m fine. I wanted to stay anyway, and it’s better than having the three of them crowding the room day after day,” said Camus.

Milo regarded him for a moment and Camus felt like there was a darkness to his eyes that he hadn’t noticed before. Something that could see through him.

“You don’t have to make up for what happened with Rhadamanthys, you know,” said Milo, and gave him a sad smile. 

Ah, yes. He had seen right through Camus again.

“I’m not,” he lied. 

Milo felt his forehead again.

“You’re getting colder,” he said. 

“It’s fine. Go away, we’ll disturb Athena if we keep speaking.” 

Milo let go of him and took a deep breath.

“…Do I make you uncomfortable now?” he asked.

“W-what?” 

The temperature dropped even further. Milo wrapped his arms around himself and tried not to shiver. 

“Hey, it’s ok. I just said what I said because… I didn’t want to live with having never said it. That was all. But nothing has to change,” he said, looking away from Camus. “I’m just glad that…You’re back. That’s enough.” 

“It’s..it’s not…” stammered Camus.

The door opened and Dohko came in smiling, followed by Hyoga.

“Hey, since you guys wanted chocolate I could make some for all and- what is this?? This place is freezing!” he said, shivering at the temperature in the room. He pointed at Camus. “You! Get out of here and back to your room. You’ll stay here Milo. And Camus, you get that cold under control, or I’m gonna have to call Shion, understood?”


	27. Chapter 27

Greater depths had been created within Saori when she had called the full presence of Athena inside her. She had definitely not expected that. Some days, the inside of her mind looked like a labyrinth, with winding hallways and roads that ended up going nowhere.

Other days, like that day, it was more like a tower, with winding staircases going up and around, leading to hundreds of doors that led to different memories. Some that belonged to her, and some that belonged to Athena.

Today, it felt very cold. 

Saori furrowed her brow at that, wondering what was going on outside her body. Some days she could hear conversations going on around her, but mostly she was trapped within the silence of her own mind.

She kept going down the staircases and reached another door. She opened it to see a battle taking place in what looked like ancient Greece. She narrowed her eyes and stared at the clothes of the warriors as they killed each other. Then she looked at the banners. No, it looked more like romans putting down a rebellion. She took a couple steps more and felt blood seep into her shoes. The smell of it flooded her nose. Blood and smoke and death. She turned and walked out of that memory, closing the door behind her.

The feeling of blood in her shoes disappeared, but the smell of it in her nose did not. 

She kept going deeper down, looking for more doors and more memories.

She heard footsteps behind her.

“There are depths not meant for mortals,” said a voice that sounded so much like her own.

She turned around to face a woman who looked exactly like her, but all in white.

White dress, white hair, and even the color to her eyes had faded. One of her eyes was white while the other was gray. As if Saori had lost all the color in her.

“I know,” she told the goddess, then turned her back on her, and kept going further, deeper yet. The goddess followed her.

“Why are you so worried about Pandora?” asked Saori. “All the memories of her, you have locked and hidden them so well…”

The tower of her mind shifted and moved. Staircases rearranging, doors changing places and sliding up and down and left and right.

“Questioning the gods. The height of human arrogance,” said Athena. 

Saori sighed. She would have to keep looking, and it was clear she would get no answers from the Goddess. But it only drove her to look for the answers even more.

The cold worsened, and she started rubbing at her naked arms. She looked up, trying to figure out what was going on with the temperature outside.

A white feather cloak was draped over her shoulders.

She whirled around, but there was no one there. The coat was very warm. She looked down at it and saw bright sparks shining among the feathers. A second look at it showed her that they were the constellations of her saints. 

She no longer felt cold, but the coat weighed heavy on her shoulders, and the smell of blood in her nose strengthened. Suddenly, she was struck by a feeling of déjà vu that seemed to not quite…belong to her. As if she could feel the echo of the act of draping a cloak from Athena’s memories. And ancient memory that reverberated through the ages that made up her existence as a goddess.

She kept walking deeper.


	28. Chapter 28

Aphrodite, Deathmask and Shura decided that they could really go for some good trash food, and went back to the KFC where they had had dinner the first night back. 

It had only been a few days, but it felt like ages ago since they’d eaten there.

They ordered some of the same frankensandwiches that they’d gotten that night, and Aphrodite bought a few beers from a convenience store.

“So we get kicked out but you get to have sex with the resurrected adonis? Unfair,” complained Aphrodite.

Shura hunched down and sighed. 

“I feel dirty. Like I just corrupted him…He was so innocent. That look in my own face is spooky,” he said, and took a bite of his chicken sandwich.

The supervisor woman from the other night walked up to them. Aphrodite stared at her, then tried to read her name tag, but there was still an ugly stain and he couldn’t make any words.

“It’s too early for me to let you drink in here,” she said and waved towards the play area. “There are children here” 

“Tch. Stupid children,” muttered Deathmask. 

She looked at Shura and frowned. 

“You, what happened to you? Did the police find you?” she asked.

“What?” asked Shura.

“You look so sad…” 

Shura’s brow furrowed.

“Why would the police find me? I haven’t done anything” he said. 

The woman rolled her eyes.

“Oh, so they haven’t,” she said. 

“He’s having  troubles in the heart department ,” said Aphrodite. 

“I see, well, stay away from the cops. And no drinking in here so early!” she said and went back to the register. 

The three finished their sandwiches and went out to walk through the park and finish their beers. 

“That was so weird,” said Shura. “What was she talking about?” 

Aphrodite shrugged.

“Probably that guy who looks like Aioros and robbed a bank? Maybe they haven’t found the criminal and she was worried they would confuse you. Or…him, since you’re basically Aioros now.” 

“Great, well I’m not getting arrested if the police come up to me. They should do their job better,” said Shura, and finished his beer.

“So what are you going to do about it?” said Aphrodite. “About the whole thing with Aioros, I mean.”

“Hmmm, I don’t know. I still feel… I really don’t know. Probably nothing. Maybe just…stay away from him until we get into our own bodies,” he said, then thought back to how Aioros had said  _ ‘When I do it to you’, _ and he felt his face heat up.

Aphrodite laughed. 

“Huh, stay away from him? Like you just did?” he said.

Shura grunted in annoyance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost forgot to update! Hahaha! I was about to go to bed when I remembered that I'm supposed to update on fridays! Hahaha!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!


	29. Chapter 29

Pandora twirled her trident in her hands as she and Valentine walked back to the car.

“Well, that was easy,” she said. 

Behind them, the ruins of an abandoned family mansion which used to connect to the underworld burned with flames so high, they bathed the surrounding area in an orange light. Valentine rubbed at his temples. It had not been what he would have called  _ easy. _ Especially when the path to the underworld had started dragging down Pandora towards it, but at least they were out, and that was all he cared about.

“As soon as I gather more energy, this will make it easier to bring back some of the others,” said Pandora, and held the trident in a firmer grip. “Although Athena must surely know I am corrupting her powers like this. I wonder when she will strike.”

Some people stared at them as they walked, but they paid them no attention. Valentine looked around, trying to remember where he had parked the car.

They passed by some kind of restaurant with a big yellow M on it, and Pandora froze on the spot. Valentine turned towards her.

“My Lady? Is something wrong?” he asked.

Pandora looked through the great windows of the restaurant, her face twisting in a mix of surprise and outrage.

Valentine followed her gaze and noticed she was looking at Minos, who was eating what looked like a hamburger inside.

Pandora ran into the restaurant.

“What are you doing here?!” she cried. 

Minos looked up from his food.

“Eating,” he said. 

“I didn’t mean that! Weren’t you being captured by Athena?” asked Pandora, and took a seat across from him. 

“Hmmm? Yeah, but I escaped. You look hungry. You should get something to eat. Valentine, get her a happy meal. And another one for me,” said Minos. 

Valentine took a deep breath and went to the register to get their food. He looked up at the menu. There were several different hamburguers, but none of them looked appetizing. Then his eyes landed on the poster that said  _ Happy Meals _ and he saw the toys that came with the meals.

There was a dragon among them.

He stepped up to the register. 

“Three happy meals please,” he said. “For the toys I want-“

“Sorry, sir, the toys are random,” said the teenager at the register.

Valentine huffed, and wondered for a moment how worth it would it be for him to scare this child to an inch of his life.

He really wanted the dragon, to be honest.

“That’s fine,” he said, since he really needed to get back. There was something strange about Minos’ attitude that nagged at the back of his mind.

With the three happy meals boxes in the tray, he went back to the table where Pandora and Minos were seated at.

“So you escaped? And what have you been doing?” asked Pandora, taking the box distractedly. 

“Oh, going around, looking at different places,” said Minos, taking his own box. “I found my old family house. Well, heheh, one of them. You know, from one of my reincarnations.” 

Pandora huffed.

“Where is Athena holding the others?” she demanded. 

“I don’t know. I escaped before she brought us anywhere,” he said, and pulled out his toy. It was a bull.

Pandora opened hers and pulled out a white door.

Valentine got a parrot. He pursed his lips, feeling slightly offended by his fate.

“Let’s exchange. I want the doll,” said Minos, reaching for Pandora’s toy.

Pandora kept it close to her. 

“What? No! It’s mine!” 

Minos pouted. “Valentine, I want another happy meal,” he said.

Valentine gladly went back for another set of boxes for them, this time seriously considering demanding to choose his own toys.

He brought them back to the table.

“Well, at least you’re free,” said Pandora, and took a bite from one of her fries. “That makes it simpler to plan on how to rescue Lord Hades.” 

“Uh, well…I have different plans,” said Minos. This time he pulled a doll from his box. A blue one. 

“What?” cried Pandora. “What else could be more important that rescuing Lord Hades?” 

Minos pocketed his toys.

“Well, right now, escaping from those three,” he said, and pointed out the window.

On the other side, Deathmask, Aphrodite, and Shura in Aioros’ body stared at them.

Pandora screamed and moved away from the window right before Aphrodite punched through the glass. Minos ran to the exit and Shura followed him. Valentine summoned his surplice just in time to block a punch from Deathmask already wearing his cloth as he came through the falling glass.

Pandora grabbed the table and tore it off the floor, then hit Aphrodite with it, sending him flying back out of the restaurant. She picked up her trident and ran out through the back door.

Aphrodite recovered, called on his cloth and chased after her, following her into the alley at the back of the restaurant. He jumped in front of her, blocking her path out.

“That’s enough of playing cat and mouse. Come here and I’ll be nice,” said Aphrodite, walking towards her.

Pandora gritted her teeth and held on to her trident. 

“I don’t think so,” she muttered, and summoned shadows underneath her, then slammed the trident at them. 

A sharp vibration like wobbling metal echoed through the alley for a moment and Aphrodite stumbled. From the shadows emerged a small figure. 

“Cheshire kill him!” yelled Pandora, taking advantage of Aphrodite’s confusion to escape past him. 

Aphrodite chased after her, but Cheshire jumped on him from behind and slammed him down on the ground. 

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I know to beat up Athena’s Saints on sight!” said Cheshire, jumping backwards to avoid the flurry of roses that Aphrodite shot at him.

The Pisces saint stood up. His vision was blurry, as if the energy from the shadows that Pandora had summoned had affected him somehow. He wobbled on his feet.

“Bastard, I’ll get rid of you damn cat,” he muttered, holding his head as he shot out roses, but none of them hit the target. Cheshire was too fast for him to aim at when everything seemed to blur and tilt all around him.

Cheshire used that moment to run through the flurry of roses and kick him in the chest, sending him flying to the back of the alley and crashing into a bunch of trash cans where a cat meowed in surprise and then went silent.

Aphrodite didn’t move.

“What’s that? I won already?” said Cheshire, approaching him with care. “I can’t believe the famed golden saints are this weak!”

A cat came out stumbling from the fallen trash cans, meowing.

“Get out of here!” said Cheshire, and kicked him away. He looked at Aphrodite, who seemed to be completely knocked out. “Oh, this was so easy! Lady Pandora must have brought me back much more powerful! She’ll be so pleased when I bring her the pisces cloth and your head!”

A rose came flying out of nowhere and Cheshire barely dodged it. He looked to where the flower had come from and saw the cat that he had kicked. There was a powerful determination in his eyes.

“You…it can’t be!” he looked back down at the unmoving body of Aphrodite. He could feel no power coming from it. Then he looked back at the cat. “That’s…you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohohohoho! Precious kitty is precious! XD


	30. Chapter 30

Minos caught Deathmask in his threads and held him up in midair. 

“I liked you better when you all invited me to dinner,” said the judge, curling one of the threads around his neck. “You Athena saints are so annoying. I don’t even want to play with you anymore. And don’t try to use your underworld waves. That will only upset the bonds stabilizing the underworld that Athena placed on me.”

Deathmask smirked.

“Really? Let’s see what the spirits hanging around you say about that,” he yelled, and summoned the underworld fires to give visible shape to the spirits surrounding Minos.

One of them reached out with a hand made of blue fire to grasp at Minos’ arm.

“Have you gone this far for me?” it asked with a youthful voice. “Grandpa?”

Minos pulled away from it, roaring in rage. He threw Deathmask away, sending him crashing against Shura and giving Valentine the chance to escape.

Then he shifted into a great black bird and flew away.

Shura pushed Deathmask away and stood up. “They’re escaping!” he yelled, looking at the retreating forms of Valentine and Minos.

A group of policemen surrounded them, aiming their guns at them.

“Freeze! You’re under arrest!” they yelled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this fic I am using Minos the judge as the original Minos who takes upon himself the burden of his grandson who was Minotaur Minos. Some of this is hinted at on my other fic "Endless Forever" which by the way you should read because what happened there is going to affect the development of the plot now.   
> Also, it's got smut. What else do you want in a fic? >.>
> 
> Anyway, hope you guys enjoy.


	31. Chapter 31

“How did you get stuck into that cat, little Pisces saint?” asked Cheshire, jumping forward to catch Aphrodite, who jumped away and scurried between a few trash bags. “The fishy became the cat! Hahaha! But you’re still my prey!”

Aphrodite ran away towards the entry of the alley, hoping to distract Cheshire’s attention away from his vulnerable body. He shot another rose at him, but he was quickly becoming exhausted trying to use his powers in such a small body.

His plan worked and Cheshire chased after him, so Aphrodite ran away, out into the street and between the cars, looking desperately for anywhere to go. He thought he could maybe circle around and try to get back to his body before Cheshire, but-

The specter jumped in front of him.

“You’re too slow like that, little fishy!” he said with a sharp smirk in his face, blocking Aphrodite’s way. 

Behind Aphrodite, a family came out through a door and Aphrodite sneaked inside, looking for a place to hide. He startled when he realized that he had run back into the KFC they’d had lunch at. 

Cheshire pushed the family aside, broke the glass door, and hunted after him so Aphrodite ran past the register and into the kitchen, looking for an exit.

“You can’t escape me fishy!” called Cheshire. 

Cries went up through the restaurant, and some children ra n away from the play area looking for their parents, blocking Cheshire’s path.

“Sir stop! I’ll call the police!” yelled the supervisor seeing Cheshire breaking inside.

A child crossed paths with Cheshire and the specter shoved him aside, throwing him against a window that cracked upon impact. The supervisor jumped over the counter and went to grab the child and pull him away from the window right before it broke and glass shards fell all over him.

Aphrodite jumped on the counter so Cheshire saw him and focused on him, but he couldn’t find any exit through where he could drive away the specter.

“There you are fishy!” said Cheshire, staring at Aphrodite. “Did you run out of flowers?”

The supervisor grabbed a chair and hit Cheshire over the head with it, stunning him for a moment.Then she ran to grab the cat Aphrodite.

“You want it? Come get it!” she yelled, and ran out the door with the cat in her hands, leading Cheshire away from the people at the KFC.

Aphrodite howled in her arms, summoning as many roses as he could to slow down Cheshire who kept on pursuing them, but it felt like every rose he summoned stole the breath from him and he felt like he was going to black out at any moment.

The supervisor ran into a park, jumping over hedges and hoping to lead Cheshire away from as many people as she could, running through the empty jogging trails .

But she was too slow.

Cheshire jumped in front of her and pulled on her arm, making her drop Aphrodite.

“That’s enough games, little human,” he said, and threw her aside. She fell to the ground, hitting her head against a rock and moved no more.

Cheshire grabbed at Aphrodite, holding him up by the scruff of his neck.

“That’s it for you little fish. But your empty body will be very useful to Lady Pandora,” he said, lifting up his claws.

A white rose flew through the air and struck him right over the heart. He spasmed, feeling poison flow through his body, his heart stopping as if a thorny claw had wrapped around it. He coughed blood.

“How…?” he asked, letting go of Aphrodite and crumbling to the ground. 

From the bushes emerged Aphrodite’s body, taking wobbly steps forward and panting.

“I got him,” he said, then looked at the unmoving body of the KFC supervisor. “Oh, no…I was too late…”

“I-Impossible…” wheezed Cheshire, feeling his life slipping away from him. “There are…two?”

He coughed some more blood over the grass, and went still.

Aphrodite struggled to stand on his four paws, but pushed himself up anyway and went up to the  woman  who laid there. Silent and unmoving and dead. What a waste ! A life  thrown away  because of a stupid flick of the dice.

“It wasn’t a waste,” said Aphrodite’s body. She tried to protect others as best  as  she could…”

Aphrodite scratched at the stain on the name tag, trying to figure out her name and pointedly not looking at the way her dark hair fell over the surprised expression on her dead face. Death had grasped her so quickly. A simple blow to the head and she was gone. The stain cleared to reveal the word  _ ‘Rose’,  _ and Aphrodite hissed in anger.. _.  _ It was a waste... 

It really, really was a waste. Every flower cut away like that was a waste. He felt rage burning inside him. 

A waste of life. Of hers and of himself, who hadn’t protected others as he was meant to do. What was Aphrodite’s life worth, if he hadn’t even been able to protect a single human from a single specter?

Aphrodite’s body took off his cloth and draped it over her body, then knelt down and petted Aphrodite.

“You did as best as you could,” he said, and picked up the woman’s body. 

“I’ll bring her back to the restaurant. They’ll be able to take care of her there,” he said, and Aphrodite finally turned to look at him. Whatever was inside his body, the cloth had not rejected him, so he hadn’t been too worried, but now was the time for explanations. 

“Who are you? How can you hear my thoughts?” he asked.

“My name is Albafica. And I’ve resided in the cloth for a few decades, listening to your soul, of course I can hear you now,” he said and picked up Aphrodite, setting him over his shoulder. 

Overhead, a great black bird flew away.

Albafica recognized it at once. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got sad during this chapter :/ I liked the KFC supervisor. I'm gonna miss her...
> 
> I wanted to portray Aphrodite's thoughts about it in a sort of spiraling fashion. To sort of show how even though he didn't react actively, his thoughts ran through his mind in a sort of echoing chaos, but I don't know how successful I was. I think I failed to correctly portray the emotion I wanted to show in this chapter...
> 
> Maybe I should write more deaths... >.>


	32. Chapter 32

Minos retook his human form a few blocks away from the mansion. His mind had started to get out of his control, and he didn’t want to be locked in his bird form if he couldn’t regulate it. He rubbed at his face, but all he could hear was the voice of his grandson Minos calling out to him.

_ ‘Grandpa?’ _

His voice echoed in Minos’ head and he could almost see his face flashing in his mind but he fought against the memory of it.

Thunder resonded overhead, and droplets fell on him as rain started. He took a few deep breaths and steadied himself against a nearby wall. 

No, he didn’t want to see Minos. He wasn’t supposed to remain! His soul should have been free! And he…he was to bear the shame and the punishment of the gods. That had been the deal with Hades…

His knees  buckled under him but he held on to the wall.

Someone stepped next to him, holding up an umbrella above Minos to protect him from the rain. He wore a pristine three piece suit of an absolute white.

Minos didn’t bother to look at him. He didn’t need to see his face to recognize his father.

“Suddenly decided to remember I exist?” he muttered, and  resumed  walking.

Zeus  paced  alongside him.

“It’s not like I can go in and out of the underworld as I please,” he said with a sigh. “But…I’ve been around.” 

“And you decide to appear now, instead of all the times that I’ve been reborn to this torture of an existence?” asked Minos. Ahead he saw the gates that led to his mansion. 

“You had never lost heart before.” 

“Tch, I remember everything now. I remember everything from the very first day of this soul of mine, and it’s all useless. All this fighting, all this judging of souls and of lives. What for?!” roared Minos.

“Hmph. For things to matter among the despair. You’re forgetting that. But it’ll be alright. Keep heart,” said Zeus.

Minos launched a punch at him, but the god vanished into white smoke, leaving the umbrella behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update guys. I've been pretty busy :(


	33. Chapter 33

Albafica went back into the Kido mansion, holding cat Aphrodite in his hands. He scurried past everyone and went straight to their room, following the energy of the pandora box that calle dto him.

_“Tell Dohko that he needs to call Shion!”_ demanded Aphrodite, jumping out of Albafica’s hands and into the bed.

Albafica took a deep breath and started taking off the cloth. He removed the chest and hips piece, but he suddenly felt his control over the body fade and he left the rest of it on.

“Look, I need…I need a favor,” said Albafica, putting the cloth pieces into the pandora box. “I need you to let me keep  your body for a day” 

_ “What are you even talking about?! I need to get back in there!”  _ said Aphrodite, hissing at him.

“I know, I know! And I’m sure there’s a way to get you back into  your own  body, but I really need to see…I need to talk to Minos” 

“What?! Aren’t you supposed to be a Pisces saint?! Why do you want to talk to Minos?” 

“I am! I really am a Pisces saint! I mean…I was, back when I was alive…” said Albafica, lowering his eyes.

The door to the room opened and Albafica grabbed Aphrodite and stuffed him inside the pandora box.

“Hey, you’re back,” said Deathmask, coming inside. “We got a bit worried when we couldn’t find you. We almost got arrested but the managed to outrun the cops.”

Aphrodite started trying to get out of the box and Albafica sat down on the lid. 

“Yes, I’m back,” said Albafica. Inside the box, Aphrodite started meowing. “I was…I found a cat and I got distracted. I don’t know if I’m going to keep it.” 

“What happened to Pandora?” asked Deathmask, walking closer to him. Too close for Albafica’s comfort. 

“Pando- oh, uhm….I lost her, sorry,” said Albafica, forcing himself to smile.

Deathmask reached out to comb his fingers through his hair.

“You look kinda off,” he said with a worried expression. “Are you feeling ok?”

Deathmask’s fingers trailed down towards Albafica’s face and he instinctively moved away from the foreign touch.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine, perfectly fine. I just want to uh, play with the cat now,” he said, standing up and moving away from him. 

Deathmask laughed.

“Fine, fine, as you wish,” he said and walked out of the room.

Albafica huffed, relieved to be left alone. He pulled up the lid of the pandora box. Aphrodite glared up at him from inside and hissed.

_ “Bastard!”  _

“Stop that,” said Albafica, pulling him out of the box. “I just need to… tell him something.” 

_ “You’re a traitor!”  _

“I’m not! I just…have been dead for a long while.” 

_ “Well, good luck finding him. He escaped,” _ muttered Aphrodite, and jumped back on the bed. 

Albafica went to the closet and grabbed a long coat that was too big for him but which would conceal his cloth away from prying eyes. Then he went to the bed and grabbed Aphrodite. 

“Tsk, that’s no problem for me,” he said and opened the window. “All that time I spent dead… ah, let’s say we got to know each other in the underworld”

Holding Aphrodite with care, he jumped out of the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Presenting the latest sanctuary pet!: Aphrodite in cat form!
> 
> Deathmask: I'll still love you! I love you so much, I'll marry you!  
> Aphrodite: Please dont'  
> Shura: Oh, no, please don't  
> Deathmask: Shion marry us!  
> Shion would go along with it just to get him off his back, probably
> 
> Sorry for the wonky updates. I'm just...kinda tired at the end of the day lately XD


	34. Chapter 34

Saga found Aioros having coffee in the kitchen, with the most serious  and ang riest  expression he had ever seen  o n his face. He almost looked like a completely different person. Saga huffed as he passed by him to serve himself some coffee.

“So, you’re still angry at me?” he asked, trying to keep his composure.

“Uh? What?” said Aioros

Saga rolled his eyes.

“We…really have to deal with our feelings in a mature manner. I guess doing it while  being  half-drunk was a bad idea,” he said, holding the warm mug in his cold hands. Lately he felt as if he was always cold for some reason. “But you don’t have to be so upset and angry at me” 

Aioros blinked a couple times, completely confused, but still with that stern look in his face.

“Wha-Saga I’m not him!” he suddenly said. 

“What?” 

“I mean, Aioros. I’m not Aioros” said Aioros, and Saga tilted his head at him.

“What the hell are you talking about? Did you hit your head?” he asked.

“Yes! No! I mean I did but it was an accident. I’m really not Aioros.”

Saga narrowed his eyes at him, wondering if the resurrection had started to mess with Aioros’ head.

Deathmask came running into the kitchen and grabbed at Aioros’ arm.

“Come here,” he said, dragging him towards the door. 

“Wait, I was explaining to Saga that I’m-” started Aioros, but Deathmask forced him out.

“It’s an emergency! Come now!” he yelled, pulling him out of the kitchen.

Saga lifted an eyebrow at them. Well, that was strange.

Kanon came inside the kitchen.

“What happened?” he asked, looking at the way Deathmask had dragged out Aioros. “Did you fight with him again?” 

“I think…maybe?” said Saga, and took a sip of his coffe e . “I don’t really know…He said he hit his head and was not himself…” 

Shura came into the kitchen smiling and made a beeline for the fridge, rummaging inside until he pulled out a bottle of milk and started drinking straight from it. 

“Pfff, that was weird,” laughed Kanon. “Maybe that’s why Shion doesn’t want him fighting or taking any guards? Maybe he went bonkers from all his time in hell?”

Saga hit him over the head.

“Stop that! You keep saying I need to fix things with him but start badmouthing him like that!” he said.

Kanon pouted and rubbed his head.

“I was just joking…” he said.

“Well don’t joke li k e that! Gods, this is hard enough as it is. First I’m drunk and fight with him and now he…hit his head or whatever. I think I’m getting a migraine. Shura what’s going on with Aioros?” asked Saga.

Shura licked the milk off his lips and stared at the bottle for a moment as if thinking about something.

“He hit his head the other day,” he said, looking at them with a smile. “He’s been very weird lately… Sometimes he says he’s not himself.” 

Saga groaned and sat down at the kitchen table. Kanon laughed and patted him in the back.

“So, no having a heart to heart conversation with him about how you didn’t really want to kill all those people now, uh?” he said.

“Kanon, I swear…,” growled Saga 

His brother laughed again and waved at them.

“I’m gonna hang out at the pool. Bye~,” he said and went out towards the back garden.

“Shura…What am I going to do? You too…I owe you an apology too…,” said Saga. 

“Uhuh…I guess,” said Shura, and took another swig from the milk bottle. 

“So you’re angry too? Despite what we talked when Shion brought us back?” 

Shura sat down across from him at the kitchen table. There was a casual expression on his face, but Saga could feel an angry energy from him.

“You know what?” he said, and smiled at him. “I don’t really remember much about that. I hit my head too.” 

Saga covered his face.

“Good gods. Am I finally the only one whose head is working right? What a joke, after so long going crazy, trapped in my own head…,” he said, and pushed his hair back. Then he looked back up at Shura. “Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?” 

He shrugged. “Who knows? Decades of hatred are a big thing to deal with,” he said, and opened the milk bottle again. “And why do you even want him to forgive you?” 

“What do you mean by that? Why would I want him to forgive me? Well to…to…I don’t know. I just want him to understand how it was. How it felt… How it was that my jealousy  that opened  the door to letting that…thing take over,” said Saga, hunching down as he thought about it all. “How after that first crime I couldn’t stop. One crime piled over the other again and again until I gave up and allowed it to take over. What else was there for me? With Shion gone…with Aioros gone…even Kanon… There really was nothing left of all that I’d once loved. My jealousy and my fear had destroyed it all, so why not let go and let the darkness take over? But how do I explain this to him?” 

Dohko came into the kitchen and looked at Shura.

“Hey Aioros, what are you doing there? Weren’t you helping Aioria get Seiya to the hospital?” 

“They’re not ready yet,” answered Shura, then jolted, and turned to look back at Saga with a guilty expression.

Saga narrowed his eyes. Things started  to fall into place in his mind. The smile, the nonchalant attitude. He had definitely seen that smile before.

O n Aioros’ face.

He stood up and slammed his fists over the table.

“Bastard! You were just toying with me!” he roared.

“Saga, sorry I just-,“ started Aioros.

Saga grabbed his mug and threw the coffee at Aioros, then he stomped out of the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pfffhuhuhu, oh Aioros, your little trick got a bit out of hand :P poor kids, they never learned conflict resolution.  
> ...  
> Because one of them was dead...  
> But oh well!


	35. Chapter 35

Albafica followed the traces of the energy from Minos’ spirit to an old, ruined mansion at the edges of the city. He jumped over the wall and slipped into the garden.

He couldn’t feel any presence other than Minos’ inside the mansion, so he advanced with decisive steps towards the main entrance, with Aphrodite perched on his shoulder, his tail swinging from side to side, showing how on edge he was.

Albafica pushed open the door. Inside it the house looked to have been abandoned for a long time, with a thick layer of dust covering everything.

_ “So he’s living in this trashcan?” _ asked Aphrodite. 

“Stop that. I could feel something strange in his spirit. There’s something not right with him and I’m worried,” whispered Albafica, walking deeper into the mansion. 

ceiling and tried to give another step, but found himself immobile. A flicker of the light from the setting sun outside illuminated a web of nearly invisible threads all around them. 

“Are you worried, Pisces? How kind of you. Ah, you Pisces saints are the ones that annoy me the least,” said Minos, walking out of the shadows. Aphrodite meowed when he stood in front of them. “You’re always so pretty, in every generation, I can’t help but be more patient with you.” 

Albafica gasped.

“Minos! I- Uhm…I found you,” he said, wondering how to explain who he was and why exactly he had ended up in a completely different body.

Minos frowned and snapped his fingers, which turned on candles strewn all around the room. He looked closer at Albafica for a moment, then released the threads holding him and Aphrodite in place. But before either of them could react, he wrapped his arm around Albafica’s waist and pulled him flush against himself, kissing him on the lips.

Aphrodite jumped out and meowed in horror seeing what Minos was doing to his body. Albafica gave a choked scream and pushed Minos away.

“W-what are you doing?!” he cried, his face completely red. He couldn’t believe Minos had just kissed him right away. Was this Aphrodite really so beautiful that Minos had been completely taken by him? Dread curled in his chest around the joy that he’d felt  looking  at Minos once again.

The judge gave an amused laugh and pulled him closer again.

“After so long, Albafica, all I want is to kiss you forever,” he said, and kissed him again.


	36. Chapter 36

Deathmask dragged Shura with him to follow Aphrodite after he had left the Kido mansion.

“Exactly how weird was he acting?” asked Shura, following after Deathmask and jumping over the wall that surrounded the mansion.

“Ridiculously weird. I don’t know what that was, or what he did to him, but that was not Aphrodite. That was…something else. Some kind of spirit, but I didn’t want to alert it,” said Deathmask, entering the mansion. “I want to find out what it’s planning and what it did to Aphrodite.”

Shura nodded behind him. They could hear a cat meowing from the floor above and they followed the sound. Soon they heard other voices.

“Ah, it’s so...embarrassing to do it while wearing the cloth,” said Aphrodite’s voice. Deathmask approached the door from which the voice came from, but it was closed.

He looked at the walls surrounding it and noticed a hole in the rotten wood of the wall. He crouched down and looked inside. 

“I think it’s hot,” said Minos with a laugh. 

Deathmask saw them on a bed, with Minos lying down and Aphrodite riding him, still wearing the leg and arm pieces of the Pisces cloth. He slapped Minos’ chest.

“Stop teasing me!” he complained. “Ah, just do me like you used to. It’s better like that.”

Aphrodite pulled up and went to lie down on the bed on his stomach, spreading his legs open for Minos.

“From  behind ?” asked the judge, caressing Aphrodite’s ass.

“I don’t want you to see this face while we do it! I hate having to use this body now,” said Aphrodite, biting his lower lip.

Deathmask clenched his fists, trying to keep himself from bursting through the door. 

Minos grabbed Aphrodite and flipped him on to his back.

“But your eyes are the same,” he said, caressing his face. “I can see you in them.”

“Minos…,” breathed the thing wearing Aphrodite’s body.

Deathmask had to repeat it to himself to keep calm. That wasn’t Aphrodite. That thing had said so himself. He must be one of Minos’ minions. He had to be.

The judge kissed him and pulled his legs open to push inside him again and Aphrodite moaned.

“Does it feel the same like this?” he asked, thrusting into him with increasing strength.

Aphrodite threw his arms around Minos’ shoulders.

“It’s…different. But good. Ah, it feels so good,” he said, arching over the bed and moaning.

Minos moved to kiss his neck while thrusting inside him. Aphrodite pulled him closer.

“Hmmm, there! Ah, it feels so good!” he cried.

Minos laughed, his thrusts growing faster, the bed creaking under them. Aphrodite tensed and cried out Minos’ name as he climaxed.

The judge threw his head back and thrusted a few times more into him. 

“Albafica!” he cried out, emptying himself on Aphrodite’s body. They both laid on the bed for a few moments, catching their breaths. 

Deathmask thought back furiously. Albafica, Albafica… Where had he heard that name before?

From another room, the sounds of a howling cat could be heard.

“I should have killed him,” said Minos.

Albafica sat up on the bed, trying to comb back his disheveled hair.

“Don’t,” he warned, and sat on the edge of the bed.

“If he dies, then you could keep the body,” said the judge, moving to kiss a trail down Albafica’s back.

“Don’t hurt him. I’m serious,” said Albafica, and stood up. “I’m going to take a shower.”

“Hmmm, I’ll find somewhere better to put him,” said Minos, and draped his robe over himself, walking towards a different door while Albafica entered the bathroom.

Shura pressed on Deathmask’s arm.

“That’s not him,” he whispered.

“I know,” muttered Deathmask through gritted teeth, still shaking from fury. “I think they might have sealed his soul in that cat. We have to rescue him.”

“We could try and attack them separately,” said Shura.

Deathmask shook his head. 

“They might try to hurt Aphrodite. Let’s see what they do and try to get him back as soon as possible,” he said.

A few minutes later, Albafica came out of the bathroom, clean and dressed, combing through his hair with his fingers.

“Minos?” he asked.

The judge came back, holding an immobile white cat in his arms.

“He wouldn’t play nice, so I had to make him behave,” he said, showing that he was keeping him in place with his marionette threads.

Albafica huffed and took him back away from Minos.

“I said don’t hurt him,” he chastised him, and petted the cat. “I have to go back now, before they notice I’m missing.”

Minos grabbed the side of his face and pulled him closer for another kiss.

“No. Stay with me,” he said.

Albafica shook his head.

“I can’t,” he said in a whisper. “They’ll realize something’s wrong.”

“Who cares? Stay here with me,” begged the judge. 

“But Athena...Minos, even now, the cloth belongs to Athena, and so does my spirit,” said Albafica, and pulled away from him with great sadness in his face. “I’ll be back, I promise. Everything will be ok, just stay here and I’ll be back.”

Then he moved to put the coat back on. 

Outside, Deathmask and Shura rushed downstairs to hide and follow him as he left.


	37. Chapter 37

Saga stalked towards Kanon, who was lying by the pool, wearing sunglasses and sipping from what looked like a cocktail

“So, things didn’t work out with Aioros back in the kitchen?” he asked with an amused smile.

“You knew?!” yelled Saga

“He sort of has a very distinctive kind of silly smile,” said Kanon, lying back fully in his pool recliner. “Shura’s face doesn’t do that. Like, ever.” 

Saga pulled at his own hair, so furious he didn’t know what to even do with his anger.

“You know what?! Fuck you too! Fuck you both!” he yelled and walked away.

Kanon laughed. 

“Cheers, I’ll drink to that!” he called, and kept sipping from his cocktail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick notice: I'm working on something special right now and will have to put this fic in hiatus for a little while. That means I won't be actively writing it anymore, and will now only post the chapters that I have already written and once those are done, there'll be no more updates for a while.  
> The hiatus will most likely last between 2-3 months as I complete the work that I'm doing.  
> I'm sorry that I'll have to take a break from this fic, but I hope to take as little time as possible.  
> Thank you for having followed the story up to this point, and I hope that you enjoy the chapters that I still have remaining to post.  
> *hugs*


	38. Chapter 38

Shion came back as soon as he could, because he didn’t want to leave the saints alone for too long. He told himself that it wasn’t because he still saw them as little children. 

…But he also kind of did.

And he wasn’t too wrong…

“They exchanged bodies?!” he yelled, looking at Shura and Aioros. He could see it clearly in their expressions, in the different light to their eyes. He covered his face, not wanting to believe it. Then he turned to yell at the libra saint who should have, by all means, kept them in check. “Dohko, I left for a day! Literally a day! You had to make sure they were ok for twenty four hours!” 

Dohko took a cautious step back away from Shion.

“In my defense…I really don’t know how this happened…,” he said. 

Aphrodite came into the house at that moment. Shion gave a quick glance at him and noticed there was something strange about him. He looked over at him.

“Aphrodite? Are you ok?” he asked, trying to pinpoint what was so strange about him. His hair seemed disheveled and unkept, which was very unlike him. And of course he wore a very unflattering coat but…

“Yes! Yes,” said Aphrodite, looking down. Something in his arms, hidden under the coat started making purring sounds. “I…I found a cat and I want to keep it!” he suddenly said, holding up a big, fluffy white cat in front of him for Shion to see and hiding his face. The cat meowed in a very melodious, yet sad way.

Shion rolled his eyes. So that was it. Well, considering all that could happen, he was ok with letting him keep a pet. He sighed. 

“Fine, just be careful,” he told him, and turned back to look carefully at Shura and Aioros. “And ask mister Tatsumi to get you food for it.” 

“Yes! I will!” said Aphrodite, and all but ran up the stairs towards his room.

“Oh gods,” whined Shion. Then he motioned for Shura and Aioros to leave. “Just…go to your rooms or something. Go, I’ll figure out how to fix you soon. For now you’re both exempt from any guards. Just…try to stay calm.”

The two bowed and walked upstairs towards their room. Then Shion moved to glare at Dohko.

“I am very, very angry,” he told him.

“Would some nice pork buns change your mood?” asked Dohko, winking at him.

“They would have to be very, very good,” warned Shion, already feeling his anger fading. He really couldn’t stay angry at him for too long.

Dohko grinned and jogged to the kitchen, while Shion went off to sit down in the living room. He was too old to be dealing with all of this. He could feel it in his soul, even if his body was completely new. 

Shun came downstairs, holding a book.

“Hey Shun. How are you feeling?” he asked the boy. He hadn’t been paying enough attention to him, and he beat himself up over it. 

“I’m fine, thank you,” said Shun, getting a little flustered and lowering his eyes.

“Getting used to having Hades inside?” 

_ “Shun…Shun careful. I remember this hoe! He made a mess at the second circle,”  _ came the dark whisper of Hades’ voice.

“I-I yes! He just screams a lot” said Shun, his face turning red.

Shion gritted his teeth.

“Listen Hades, if you think I won’t slap this kid just to put you in your place, you are very wrong,” he said. 

_ “Oh, you can hear me!” _ said Hades. 

Shun covered his face in shame.

“I’m so sorry!” he cried. “Forgive me your holiness!” 

_ “Hoeliness, hehehe…” _

Shion tried really, really hard not to slap him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yessss! Finally managed to add another one of Card's comics, huehuehue. This one was fun to write :3c


	39. Chapter 39

Albafica scurried to Aphrodite’s room and closed the door behind him.

_ “You had sex! With MY body!” _ cried Aphrodite, jumping out of his arms and meowing in outrage.

“I’m sorry!” 

_ Of course,  _ _ you should be!”  _

“It’s not like I planned it. It just…sort of happened,” said Albafica, feeling his face burning in embarrassment. 

It really hadn’t been his plan. In fact, he hadn’t really wanted to actually do it at first, concerned as he was about his own fate and about Minos’ unstable energy. 

But when Minos had wrapped his arms around his hips, and he’d felt the warmth of his body, pressed flush against him…He really couldn’t resist! Especially not after decades trapped in the cold Pisces cloth with only silence for company!

He took off the coat and threw it on the bed. 

“It was a mistake, that’s all, and I’m sorry,” he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

The closet door opened and Deathmask walked out.

“Huh, so it was a mistake that you stole Aphrodite’s body to go fuck Minos?” he asked.

The door to the room opened and Shura came in.

Albafica jumped to his feet while Aphrodite went running towards Deathmask and jumped into his arms.

“How- how did you…? You followed me!” cried Albafica.

“I knew from the first moment there was something strange about you,” he said, petting Aphrodite. “Who are you? And what did you do to steal Aphrodite’s body?” he demanded. 

“Wait, I’m not an enemy! I mean no harm,” said Albafica, holding up his hands. “Aphrodite just got trapped out of the body by accident and I took over to save him and defeat a specter!” 

“By accident? As if I’d believe you. Now, what exactly are you?” he wondered, and his eyes turned red, the blue of his hair fading and turning ash grey. “I can’t see quite right. A ghost? A demon? Some kind of spirit?” 

“I suppose, I am a ghost…,” said Aphrodite, hunching his shoulders. 

“One of Minos’ servants,” said Shura, taking a step forward. 

“No!” cried Albafica.

“Really? Because you certainly served him Aphrodite’s body!” yelled Deathmask, holding Aphrodite closer against him.

Albafica felt all the blood drain from his face. 

“Y-you saw?! How could you-?!” he stammered, equal parts embarrassed and outraged.

“Let’s just go get Shion,” said Shura. “He should be able to fix them.” 

Albafica’s blood ran cold.

“No! No, I promise I’ll give everything back! I was just worried. Please don’t tell Shion, anything but that!” he begged. He could endure anything except having to confess everything to Shion.

The door opened. And Shion came through.

“What is all this racket? What do you not want me to know? What have you three done this time?” asked the Pope, coming inside.

Albafica took a couple hesitant steps back, terrified at being found out. Deathmask stepped forth and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him towards Shion.

“This isn’t Aphrodite,” he said. “It’s some spirit possessing his body from the cloth.”

Shion furrowed his brow and tried looking more carefully at Albafica.

“From the cloth? No evil spirit can possess the cloth. That is ridiculous!” he said. 

“His name is apparently Albafica. He’s working for Minos,” said  Shura , pushing him forward.

Albafica fell to his knees, unable to face Shion.

“Shion, please, this is not what you’re thinking…,” he said, his eyes filling with tears. “I have not betrayed Athena! You must believe me!” 

Shion’s face turned white. Then he clenched his hands into fists, and walked towards him, kneeling down next to him.

“I’ll see what is going on now,” he said, his tone cold as he reached out to grab the pieces of the cloth that Albafica still wore.

Albafica felt as if a freezing wind rose from inside him, and in a flash all his time as a saint flashed through his mind. Then his death, another flash of memory.

And then, the long centuries in the underworld. The days spent in Minos’ palace, tending the garden, talking with him…waiting for an oblivion that wouldn’t arrive, while at the same time drifting closer to each other. And all throughout the constant flashing memories, he could feel Shion’s eyes staring down at him, judging him.

“Albafica, how...?” whispered Shion, letting go of him. “Out of all of us...you…,”

“I was dead!” cried Albafica, the tears overflowing his eyes and falling down his cheeks. “I was dead and so was he! But my karma forbade me from resurrection or punishment. I was to fade away and be brought back to the cloth, but...it was so long…”

The mansion shook and a sound like an explosion resounded from the floor below. 

“The judges!” yelled Shion.

Deathmask and Shura ran towards the door when another explosion wrecked the side of the mansion, from the eastern side of the building.

Shura kicked the door open. 

“That came from Athena’s room!” he yelled, running towards it.

Deathmask hesitated for a moment in following him., looking back at Shion and Albafica as they stood up. Aphrodite meowed urgently and Shion yelled at him to go look for Athena, so he ran.

Then the window blew up, the force of the explosion blasting them through the wall on the other end of the room.

“What do the reasons matter?” asked Minos, coming forth through the wreckage of the window, wearing his surplice. He waved and bright threads wrapped around Albafica, lifting him away from Shion’s arms and pulling him to the judge’s arms. “You could explain it all to them and they won’t care.”

“Minos?! What are you doing?!” cried Albafica, thrashing against his hold.

“I came to get you, of course. I knew it would be no good for you to come back,” said Minos, and pressed a quick kiss to Albafica’s cheek. “Now! Let’s go!” 

He spread the wings of his surplice and a great wind shook the mansion, making it shake to its foundations.

Shion jumped to his feet and lifted his arms. 

“Crystal Wall!” he yelled, but threads had already wrapped around his neck, cutting off the airflow to his lungs and holding him immobile.

“Not this time, Aries,” laughed Minos.

“Don’t hurt him!” yelled Albafica.

Minos laughed and threw Shion aside.

“Fine, fine,” he said. “Then let’s go, my rose.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Minos came to rescue his little Rose! Isn't it cool? He probably thinks it was. Albafica doesn't tho :P  
> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!


	40. Chapter 40

Deathmask ran into Athena’s room to find Milo and Shura hanging from invisible threads.

“It was…a trap…,” croaked Shura, and Deathmask could see some of the threads were wrapped around his neck. Looking over at Milo he noticed the same thing, and the saint hung in midair, completely unconscious.

Athena was nowhere to be seen.

Deathmask roared and summoned the flames of hell to burn away the threads and release them. Then he turned around and went back to their room. The whole wall where the windows had been was completely blown off and Shion writhed on the floor, coughing.

“You Holiness !” cried Deathmask, going to lift him up.

Shion pushed him away.

“Athena?” he asked, voice hoarse.

“Gone,” muttered Deathmask through gritted teeth.

Shion punched the floor.

“The judges. Make sure the judges don’t escape!” he ordered.

Deathmask let go of him and ran out of the room where he ran into Shura, who carried  an unconscious Milo on his back. Camus ran down from the third floor, already wearing his cloth.

“An attack?!” he asked. “What happened to Milo?!”

Deathmask and Shura kept running towards the first floor.

“It was Minos,”  answered  back the cancer saint as he ran down the stairs three steps at a time.

“He knocked out Milo and kidnapped Athena,” said Shura. “It was a trap. He was waiting to strike!”

On the first floor they found a battle already taking place.

Rhadamanthys flew out and tackled Mu. Shaka started calling down the treasure of heaven but Aiacos flapped the wings of his surplice and blew him through one of the great windows. On a corner, Aldebaran struggled to get up, coughing blood. He had cuts all over his body. 

Deathmask jumped forward, sending out the flames of hell towards Aiakos when suddenly a great pink shape t ackled him to the ground and punched him in the face, sending him flying through a wall. 

Valentine spread his wings and dodged a freezing attack from Camus, sprinting back and then shifting to the side to go help Rhadamanthys against Mu.

Shura let Milo down on the floor.

“Get Aiakos!” yelled Shura, and ran towards Rhadamanthys and Valentine, who had punched Mu down into a crater on the floor. He lifted his arm, trying to summon Excalibur, but only a flurry of golden arrows appeared, hitting all over the walls but not hitting either Rhadamanthys or Valentine.

“Wrong attack?” asked Rhadamanthys with a smirk

A ball of flaming energy came through the ceiling and hit him. From the hole left on the ceiling jumped down Kanon and Saga.

“Sweet Chocolate!” yelled Valentine, and harpies came out of the shadows, launching themselves at the saints. “Lord Rhadamanthys! Run away!”

Rhadamanthys stood up from the crater on the floor where he was, wiping at his mouth.

“Tch, specters never run away,” he muttered, and spread the wings of his surplice.

“Wrong choice!” laughed Kanon, and he and Saga casted Galaxian Explosion at him at the same time, blasting off the entire side of the mansion. 

On the other side, Deathmask recovered and stood up to see Camus shooting out freezing rays at Aiakos at lightning speed. 

He ran to help Camus, but found that Aioros and Aioria were already there surrounding Aiakos.

“It’s over! Give up!” yelled Aioros, taking the stance of shooting an arrow, before realizing that no bow was appearing in his hands.

Aiakos punched him in the face.

“I don’t think so!” he laughed.

Aioria, outraged, punched Aiakos seventy times at the speed of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fight! Fight! Fight! Action scenes are so hard to write, but this was exciting, hahaha!  
> And no one hurts the kitty's big brother!


	41. Chapter 41

Albafica set Athena down on the best bed in the mansion and made sure she was warm, covering her with the bedspread.

“Do you hate me for this?” asked Minos, leaning against the doorframe. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” said Albafica, and took a deep breath. “I just wish you would stop with this senseless temper tantrum” 

“I just want to keep you,” whispered Minos. 

Albafica gave a sad laugh.

“Keep me? How? There is no life that we can share. Look at me, a ghost trapped in an armor,” he said, walking towards him and motioning at himself. “Hades and the other judges are still captured… Like this, we won’t even get to meet again in the underworld. There might soon be no more underworld once Athena recovers her powers.”

Minos grabbed his hand and pulled him closer, setting his other hand over Albafica’s hip. Then he pulled him into the sway of the dances they used to enjoy at his palace. Albafica followed his lead.

“Then…why should our souls continue to suffer?” asked the judge. “With both Athena and Hades gone, everything would end. No more world, no more underworld, no more life or death.” 

Albafica’s heart jumped on his chest.

“Minos, you can’t be serious!” he cried.

Minos placed a kiss over his hand as all reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've seen some portrayals of Minos and Albafica's relationship as this really energetic sort of love and hate kind of thing, and while I do enjoy it, for some reason I prefer to see them as this really dedicated and loving couple. Kind of like the relationship between Gomez and Morticia Addams. I don't know if people like this portrayal of them, but I hope you guys like it, hahaha!


	42. Chapter 42

Valentine had escaped the Galaxian Explosion by turning into a bird, but he soon found himself caught by Mu’s crystal wall, and then thrown into a cage.

The golden saints dragged a frozen and beaten Aiakos back into the house and then down into the basement. Then the Gemini saints grabbed Rhadamanthys and forced him back into the basement again.

Pope Shion supervised them, looking frazzled and tired while next to him saint who held Hades inside him observed with an expression of concern. They followed them to see where the judges would be set prisoners, since most of the dungeon had been destroyed by Valentine and Minos.

“Good thing I ordered the dungeons at the sanctuary cleared,” said the pope, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “We’ll have to move them there soon. Now, let’s get ready and go storm Minos’ hideout. Milo, Aldebaran, Mu and Shaka, you stay here to guard the judges and Shun. The rest will come with me to get Athena and Albafica.”

Shaka lifted up the cage in which Valentine had been stuffed. The harpy cried out in rage.

“Awww,” said Andromeda, reaching out to hold the cage. “Poor thing. It’s such a small cage.”

“Just put him somewhere far from the others,” said Shion, and went back upstairs.

Valentine looked up at the boy* and saw in the depths of his eyes, the spirit of Lord Hades shining, staring back at him.

Andromeda frowned, blinked, and the presence of Hades came forth. So strong that Valentine fluttered in the cage, squawking in surprise.

The god gave a long suffering sigh and looked up at Rhadamanthys and Aiakos.

“I want you all to know I’m very disappointed in you,” he said. Then he looked down at Valentine trapped in the cage. “Ah, Valentine. Out of everyone, you were the only one to fulfill your promise. How annoying!”

Valentine stared back at those dark eyes, and memories started flashing in his mind. The memories that he had tried so hard to push away since being brought back. The bet and the oath and his loss. He cried out in a pathetic squeaking inside the cage.

“Oh, now you’re regretting things? I have been very generous. Endlessly generous,” said Hades, and started rattling Valentine’s cage.

Rhadamanthys struggled against the chains that held him down.

“Lord, what are you doing?!” he cried.

Hades looked up at him with a cold stare.

“Reminding him that this is still a test,” he said.

Valentine kept fluttering in the cage, crying out, trying to keep the memories away, but the voice of Lord Rhadamanthys kept bringing him to that day, when he’d been left to die, that day when he had been mortally wounded, and only the exiled son of Zeus dared to approach him and help him. Only him, with divinity sparkling in his eyes had stopped to cure his wounds, ignoring the hissing and holding down the sharp claws at the end of his wings.

* * *

_“This will only take a moment,” Rhadamanthys had said. And he had been as young as his soul back then. Bright and new and beautiful. “You’ll feel better once I’m done.”_

_And Valentine had indeed felt better afterwards. So much better, that he’d followed him down the mountain as he trekked forward._

_He followed him day and night. Through mountains and seas._

_He followed him even unto death._

_Hades had found him there._

_“Harpy…you are bound to return to the world,” said the God, taking a simple form of shadows to present himself before Valentine. The harpy noticed curiosity sparking in those shadow eyes. “The underworld is only the resting place for the souls of humans.”_

_The god reached out and shadows covered valentine like a veil. He felt a pressure_ _on_ _his throat, and realized he could speak with the human tongue_

_“I wish to follow master Rhadamanthys,” he said._

_Hades lifted an eyebrow at that. His shadowy form shifted. Now a young man, then an old man, then a child. But Valentine’s harpy eyes saw the truth of his nature in those dark eyes, and he was not fooled at all._

_“Why?” he asked._

_Valentine had never thought about why he did anything. But now only a single answer came to his mind._

_“He is good,” he whispered._

_“Human souls are good_ _by day_ _, and evil tonight_ _by night_ _,” said the god._

_Valentine shook his head. The shadow veil over him fluttering._

_“I have seen his soul and I love it. He will be good forever,” he said, believing every single one of his words._

_Hades scoffed a laugh._

_“Forever is a long, long time. One should not bet eternity on the goodness of a human soul. Not even a half god’s soul like his,” he said._

_But Valentine had learned the one word that encompassed the why of his constant following, and observing, and waiting. And that word was enough._

_“I love him,” he said, ever surer of his decision. “I will give my everything for him.”_

_“Humans fade, but gods are eternal,” said Hades, floating before him and extending his hand to Valentine. “Pledge that steely loyalty to me, and I will reward you forever.”_

_“No.”_

_The god’s extended hand turned into a fist._

_“You’re so sure of it all, uh? What do you see in that son of Zeus?” he wondered, and started pacing around Valentine. “That loyalty, it is a precious thing rarely seen in heroes or demigods. I want it.”_

_“I want to follow master Rhadamanthys,” said Valentine, holding himself steady._

_Hades reached out and tore away the veil of shadows of Valentine, and it took with it all his feathers, leaving behind a human form. Hades shook the veil and it turned into a feather cape._

_Valentine gasped and looked down at him. He had arms and hands now, and his long pink hair- the same hue as his old feathers- fluttered around him. Mirrors appeared around him, allowing him to see the entirety of the human form he had been given._

_“If you so want to leave everything behind for him, then go ahead and bet yourself against a god,” said Hades. “You may serve Rhadamanthys for as long as he is good in your eyes. But as soon as his soul corrupts, you will bow to me and obey me with that same loyalty you hold for him.”_

_Valentine knew there was a trap in his offer. There had to be. There would definitely be a way for him to fail, to be caught in the traps of the lord of the underworld._

_But he loved Rhadamanthys._

_He loved so much._

_“I accept.”_

* * *

“Stop! Stop that!” yelled Rhadamanthys’ voice, jolting Valentine back to the present moment. Hades had still been rattling his cage.

“How does it feel Valentine? You lost our bet,” he said and then another present came fort from within his eyes, and the black of his hair faded, giving way to a bright green.

“No! Stop, that is too cruel!” said Andromeda, and took over control of his body, stopping the painful rattling of the cage.

Valentine curled up on himself at the bottom of the iron cage.

Because in his mind he saw dozens of lives flashing one against the other. Of Rhadamanthys killing uselessly, destroying needlessly. And of him, following, no matter what he crumbled under his feet. No matter how many times he killed without a second thought.

Not even when he killed Valentine himself.

 _“It did not have to be like this Valentine,”_ he remembered hearing him say during one of his reincarnations. Right after murdering him without hesitation.

But it had to be like that.

Because the Rhadamanthys that Valentine had known, all those ages ago when gods and heroes roamed the earth, was long gone.

And Hades had been indeed generous beyond belief. He had allowed Valentine to forget, again and again, to never realize just how truly he had lost that one bet where he had gambled his eternal soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhh, some Rhadaval angst yessss. Writing Valentine has been quite the challenge, but I've found that the more I write him, the more he interests me. Maybe because I build more of his personality, and explore more depths of his character.
> 
> Hope you guys liked these updates.
> 
> And for more information, remember that all my writing projects and other updates are at my blog  
> alexdamien.wordpress.com


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